


Dwarf Friend

by Its_Raineing_Words



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: AU but mostly the same, Abuse of Khuzdul, BAMF Frodo Baggins, Bilingual Bilbo, Child Hobbit, Constructive Criticism Welcome, Crushes, Culture Shock, Domestic Fluff, Dwarf & Hobbit Cultural Differences, Dwarf Courting, Dwarf Culture & Customs, F/M, Falling In Love, Fanart Welcome, Female Bilbo Baggins, First Meetings, Foreign Language, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Frodo is smart and wonderful and all the Dwarves love him, Grumpy Thorin, Hobbit Courting, Hobbit Culture & Customs, Hobbiton, It gets a little serious later on but not too much, Khuzdul, Language Kink, Male-Female Friendship, Mystery, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Overprotective Dwarves, Podfic Welcome, Romantic Friendship, Sindarin, Slow Build, Young Frodo Baggins, Young Love, as they should - Freeform, faunt, kind of, mostly background grump though, mostly cute still, multilingual Frodo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-06-29 15:55:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 45,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15732663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Its_Raineing_Words/pseuds/Its_Raineing_Words
Summary: Bella has always been a curious Hobbit but her longing for adventure never took her outside of Hobbiton but now the adventure is coming to her.





	1. Chapter One

Bella Baggins had always wondered about what lay beyond the Shire; it was the Took in her she was sure but the Baggins always kept her within the boundaries of the Shire. She did indulge in books, however, and read anything and everything she could get her hands on. Bella taught herself Sindarin just so she could have the pleasure of reading even more books. Elves fascinated her and she had often begged her mother to tell her about them and never tired of hearing how she had made the trip to Rivendell. She was also fascinated with all the other races Arda had to offer as she had never seen any of them other than Men and Hobbits. Bella was probably about thirteen when she found out about Dwarves for the first time and she remembered the conversation forever:  
“Oh, Mama! Are they our size?”  
“A bit bigger but a good size, all in all. They’re very broad too with great beards, like the curls on their feet have migrated to their faces.”  
“That can’t be true, can it? It sounds so unreal.”  
“I assure you it is real, my petal. I’ve even met one, bit gruff but nice.”

That was all it took to solidify Bella’s interest in Dwarves because the very next day she begged her father to get her a book on them when he next went down to the market. The poor Hobbit had to order it especially from Bree and got an odd look from the vendor for his trouble. Bella had devoured the book, it had illustrations of battle-hardened warriors and swords with patterns so fine and intricate it hurt to look at. The obsession spread from there; Bella would often rope her Took cousins reenacting great Dwarven battles or make lone treks through the forest hoping to find some Dwarves hidden in a fox den or something of the like. Bella’s obsession calmed as she entered her tweens. She was still known as an odd Hobbit, they said she had one foot out of the Shire in spirit even though she had never gone any further than Bree, they said she was a bit too much like her dead mother. With all of that said years later when she heard there was going to be a Dwarven vendor at the market in Bree that next month she nearly fainted with excitement. 

Bree was bustling as always and she grinned as she traversed the market, jingling the gold in the purse she had stuffed in the pockets of her skirt. It took her no time at all the find the stall, she just had to follow the gossip.  
The person who ran the stall wasn’t a Dwarf but a Man which perturbed her but he was nice enough, friendly and approachable and he smiled and asked her if he could help her when she peered up at the great axes he had displayed behind him.  
She grew flustered all of a sudden, “Well, I just heard you were in town and I’ve heard a great deal about how marvelous Dwarven craftsmanship was.” She tended to flatter people when she got nervous, it was a trait she got from her Baggins grandmother and she hoped he didn’t think she was being sarcastic like her Took relations often did.  
The vendor seemed to take it at face value and grinned, “You heard right then, missie. I do believe we have something you might like, hair beads perhaps?”  
She had seen the swords and great hammers and axes he was also selling and sighed in relief when he didn’t suggest those. Hmm, she had been thinking about what to do with her hair now it was longer.  
“I was sold these back in Ered Luin and couldn’t pass them up. I think this one might suit you,” With that he produced a beautiful bead, silver with delicate carvings with some blue stones set in it.  
“It’s beautiful,” She breathed, “how much?”  
“Two gold coins, but since I like you I’ll throw this in for free. It’ll be a proper set then.” He picked up another bead which seemed to glimmer in the light and she didn’t know whether she was getting swindled or not but she didn’t care and practically floated her way back to the Shire once her other errands were done with both beads clasped in her palm.

Once back at Bag End, she was faced with the conundrum of how to put a hair bead in, she barely knew how to braid her hair since it was kept in check with a ribbon most of the time. It took her a few tries but in the end she secured it in a hastily done french braid that curled from her temple down to her right ear so the bead fell just below it. Bella looked at herself in the mirror and nodded, pleased with her work. After that she wore the bead every day, ignoring the odd looks it got her from her neighbours. 

Bella was making the trip to Bree again so she could replace her trowel as the handle had fallen off. The weather was nice, not too hot, cold or windy; Bella hummed to herself as she walked over the Brandywine bridge. Her feet were starting to hurt and she debated whether or not a new trowel was really worth the trip when she abruptly stopped in her tracks. Everything was very quiet, the birds weren’t singing, animals weren’t rustling through the undergrowth. In fact the woods surrounding her were eerily silent and she looked around her worriedly before remembering that nothing bad ever happened in the Shire anymore and that she was safe. Though that didn’t stop her from picking up her pace as she made her way along the dirt path. 

The feeling that something was definitely wrong didn’t lessen as she walked, especially when she saw a very suspicious dark something or other lying on the road. Bella wasn’t sure what it was but it certainly wasn’t some cargo that had fallen off of a cart, certainly wasn’t a Hobbit either as no self-respecting Hobbit would wear anything so dour and drab. 

As she approached hesitantly she was stuck by the smell of iron, she could almost taste it and it made her shudder. Heart suddenly pounding, she looked around her desperately, not knowing what lurked but certain that she was in mortal peril. Bella couldn’t see anything, but her mother’s stories had told her that the worst danger wasn’t always what you could see with your eyes, true danger often lurked in the darkness lying in wait for an unsuspecting soul. 

As she edged ever closer to unknown lump she found herself evermore certain that it was indeed a living being and not a particularly dark sack of potatoes. As she got closer she saw that it was a person writhing around in pain. Either a Dwarf or a particularly short Man with bloodied face and torn clothes, she didn’t know what to think, her mind was racing. The worst thing she had seen prior to this was time some poor fauntling who had fallen out of a tree and broken their arm. 

The stranger’s pack was some five feet away from him, with ripped clothes strewn about the path around it. She wondered if the rest had been stolen, there was no food, no personal items. It reminded her intensely of horror stories she was told as a faunt about what would happen if she left the Shire. The poor soul groaned and Bella let out a cry of fear and as she rushed towards the Dwarf she crashed to her knees, uncaring of the sharp stones that dug into her even through her skirt. She moved his long inky hair to the side to inspect his forehead where blood was trickling sluggishly from a gash there. He noticed her presence then and lept into action, thrashing terribly and shouting guttural things she could tell were curses.

Bella was scared but stood her ground and grabbed his arms which were flailing wildly. It was a testament to how weak he was that she could stop him from hitting her. He looked up at her with nearly-black eyes, he seemed drawn to her hair and his hand reached gingerly for her braid and she let him. The Dwarf twisted it around before relaxing in her hold  
“....bahîth (friend)…” He then fell unconscious and Bella was left with blood on her braid and no conceivable way to get him back to the Shire as she could hardly pick him up and take him back.

Bella was suddenly thankful that she had brought some water with her as she took her handkerchief and poured some on it to clean up the poor sod, the wound on his forehead had dirt in it which she cleaned out quickly knowing what a danger infection could be given half a chance. The stranger had given up any fight and let her take care of him as best she could, Bella only hoped he wasn’t too badly hurt as her healing skills began and ended with cleaning and dressing minor wounds. 

The road from the Shire to Bree is fairly busy with farmers peddling their wares back forth throughout the day which wasn’t a fact Bella had paid much attention to. She had never been so thankful for it though as about quarter of an hour later she heard the telltale clop of a farmer’s cart trundling along the road. As soon as she saw the Hobbit on the cart, a tanned Hobbit by the name of Mr Fiddlehead who looked ready to keel over with shock, she yelled frantically for him to help her. He looked alarmed but helped her get the poor Dwarf to the healers. They both had to help putting him into the cart and set off at breakneck pace for Hobbiton; he groaned terribly whenever the cart went over uneven ground but she kept him relatively still by holding him down as he still thrashed slightly every now and then. His eyes were open but it didn’t look like he was seeing anything, like he didn’t know what was happening to him or where he was-he just looked at her with those unblinking eyes.

The healer’s smial was an understated affair on the outskirts of the Shire and not a place Bella had ever been before and neither had Mr Fiddlehead for that matter so it took a bit of time to find it. The smial itself was well kept with a herb garden instead of the usual flowerbeds that sat proudly outside most Hobbit homes. The inside was surprisingly homely, if pungent smelling as they dragged the Dwarf inside.  
“Deary me!” A high-pitched voice called from the next room, “You can’t just come barging into my smial, you know. I may be a healer but I’m not-” she immediately stopped as she poked her round the door and saw the state of the Dwarf, “Eru! Get him into the other room now!” 

Bella and Mr Fiddlehead obliged and he was soon spread across a bed that he was far too wide for.  
“Has he been lucid within the last half hour?” She asked Bella.  
“Yes, well, kind of. I mean, does thrashing and yelling nonsense count as being lucid?” She said, scratching the back of her neck.  
“It does. In that case I’m going to have to give him something that’ll numb the pain because I can see from here that he’s badly hurt.”  
“You mean his head?” Mr Fiddlehead piped up.  
“No, I mean his chest. Can’t you see the blood?” She replied incredulously and Bella felt like the biggest fool in existence as she looked down and saw the now quite obvious patch of blood on his tunic. 

Mr Fiddlehead left as soon as he could but Bella stayed behind to help him. It was grim affair in truth, far worse than she could have imagined, not that she had ever imagined anything like that.  
“I need you to take off his coat, miss…” The healer said, rushing around picking up various things that Bella had a feeling she wasn’t used to using.  
“I’m Bella Baggins.” She muttered, with burning cheeks.  
“A Baggins, ay? Wouldn’t have expected that. I’m Gardenia Stoor.” She said as she set up her equipment on the bedside table.  
“Well? Get his coat and tunic off, I can’t very well tend to him with his shirt on.” Gardenia tutted,  
“Right, of course not.” Bella then got ahold of herself and took off the Dwarf’s coat and tunic while Gardenia dipped a few sewing needles in what Bella guessed to be alcohol. 

Luckily the Dwarf was well out of it by the time Gardenia was ready to stitch him up, he didn’t look like he was asleep exactly, more like he just wasn’t there which was disconcerting.  
“Here’s what I need you to do, Miss Baggins. I wouldn’t ask this of you if I wasn’t completely sure I couldn’t do this alone...but this is going to be painful for him and while he won’t remember it when he wakes up he’ll be perfectly able to fight back and I’ve heard enough about Dwarves to know that I don’t want to have a Dwarf thrashing about so I want you to hold him down.” Bella’s face must have given away her thoughts because she spoke again, “Don’t worry, though! He won’t be able to fight properly, he’s far too unaware for that.”  
“That’s not what I was worried about. Um, where do I hold him? It’s just not proper!” She began her sentence nervous and ended with a shriek that rang out awkwardly throughout the room.  
“Yavanna, lass! I know it’s not proper but come on, he’s a Dwarf-it’s not like his chest is attractive. Look at him! He’s not got an ounce of fat on him.” The healer said gruffly.  
Bella didn’t say anything, just blushed. She had known for a long time that she had liked the farmer’s sons a lot more than she had liked her social equals, chubby bellies had never called to her the way strong muscles had. It was one of the myriad of reasons why she was doomed to be a spinster, in fact.

Any thoughts of muscles and proprietary ended, however, when Gardenia started on her first stitch. The Dwarf who had been up until this point deadly still reared up off of the bed with a great roar of pain, arms flailing wildly. In fact, Gardenia barely dodged an arm herself as Bella caught an elbow to the stomach as she put all of her weight into keeping him still. He hadn’t fought that hard when he had been on the road, she thought, but maybe he had regained some energy.  
“Eru! He’s a feisty one, isn’t he?”  
“You’re not the one holding him down!” 

Even though the effort of holding the thrashing Dwarf down made her arms burn she didn’t relent, she would not let him go without treatment, she’d rescued him from that road and she would be damned if he died because the healer couldn’t stitch his wounds. Once his wounds were stitched Gardenia moved on to the various bruises dusting his body with swathes of deep blue and purple fading to revolting yellows and greens, whoever had done that to him were monsters. Over the next half hour the Dwarf’s wounds were treated and he was tucked in bed in a drugged sleep. After having a cup of tea with Gardenia who was a lovely Hobbit when she wasn’t shouting orders Bella left for her smial already thinking about when she could next make the trip to Bree.

She had barely made it back to her smial, however, when frenzied knocking resounded throughout the house. Bella grumbled about rude relatives and opened the door ready to dish out the rant of a lifetime when she saw the pale and panicked face of young Marigold Brandybuck.  
“Miss Bella you have to get down there!” The tween practically yelled.  
“Aulë! Where exactly?” She blustered, already pulling on her cardigan.  
“The healing smial! The Dwarf is fighting and won’t be calmed, he keeps yelling in that language of his and he won’t speak or understand any Common. You need to help.” Marigold was panting both from exertion and from how fast she was speaking, “Come on! We need to get back before he kills himself or Mrs Stoor!” 

With that both Hobbits took off, this was probably the most danger the Shire had seen since the Fell Winter she realised as she pelted down the lane. Bella could hear the shouting long before she reached the smial which acted as a makeshift hospital, mostly for ill faunts and farmers who dropped their rakes on their feet.  
“Ithmir! (Get away)” A loud bang and it got worse as she rushed towards the smial and she had to take quite a few panicked breaths before she was ready to go in.

What greeted her was a very angry-looking Dwarf brandishing a fire poker at a terrified Gardenia who was trying to calm him down to no avail.  
“Bella! Praise Yavanna you’re here! He’s been like this since he woke up ten minutes ago, he’s burst the stitches in his side and he’s not going to last much longer if I can’t get to him.” The healer was still eying the Dwarf and said Dwarf had lowered the poker and was staring at Bella. He took two great steps forward grabbed her by the arm and dragged her back to the other side of the room with him, she could feel the blood soaking through his tunic and she blanched.  
“Master Dwarf! Put that poker down!” Bella yelled as if she were addressing a faunt, “You need to let our healer treat you or you’ll die.” She looked up at him, trying to put how close they were out of her mind.  
He seemed to consider it for a few seconds before speaking, “Do you vouch for this...healer?” His voice was deep but clear and not at all like she would have expected it to sound from the Khuzdul she’d heard him from him up until then.  
“I do, Gardenia Stoor would never hurt anyone.” Bella said, her nervousness choking her voice slightly.  
“Then I’ll let her treat me, but if she does anything untoward I’ll not be responsible for my actions,” Gardenia was a braver Hobbit than Bella gave her credit for because she just strode over to the Dwarf and bade him sit on the thoroughly rumpled bed.  
“Right then, your antics have burst your stitches and we’ll have to put them back. You were out cold when I put them in, have you had stitches before?” She said, no-nonsense and a hand on her hip.  
He scoffed, “‘Course I have.”  
“Right then.” She sniffed indignantly, Gardenia then set about redoing the stitches and even though the Dwarf was putting on a brave face he was pale and biting his lip until it turned bright red and Bella grabbed his large and calloused hand in both of hers and squeezed reassuringly. Once he had been tended to Gardenia called her over to the other side of the room.  
“He’s going to have to stay somewhere else because frankly I don’t trust him with my other patients, I have a wheelbarrow and you can take him back to your smial in that, that is if you want him there, I know it’s a big thing to ask. It’s just I can’t have him here and I don’t think anyone else will take him in.” She whispered guiltily and Bella looked over to the Dwarf who was gazing blearily at her with an unreadable expression; she just nodded at the other Hobbit.  
Bella trotted over to him, “You’ll have to come with me to my house, I’m afraid. But I’ve got a lovely guest room and lots of food.”  
The Dwarf just grunted, the pain had gotten rid of any bravado he had not five minutes ago.

The trip back to her smial was both arduous and highly embarrassing as Bella had to push the Dwarf there in a wheelbarrow of all things, he paid no mind to it and had cheered up a little as he was laughing and waving to the shocked Hobbits watching them.  
“So, uh, this is my smial. If you’d grab my arm I can take you in.” Bella stuttered and the Dwarf just smiled weakly.  
“Aye.” He then stood up abruptly and Bella barely had time to drag him into the living room before he ran out of energy and sagged in her hold.  
“Aulë, you’re heavy! Gardenia said you need to eat. Are you allergic to anything?” He just looked at her blankly, “I’ll take that as a no, then. Right, I’ll be back in tick Master…” She realised she didn’t even know his name, how improper!  
“Kili, son of Vili at your service,” Bella guessed he had practiced that as he looked mightily pleased with himself.  
“I’m Bella Baggins.” She said wearily, “Well then, Kili son of Vili, I’ll go make us some tea and something to eat. You rest in this armchair, it’s the comfiest one I’ll have you know.” Bella then bustled out of the living room and into the kitchen. She had no idea how in Yavanna’s name to tend to an injured Dwarf but she knew how to host a guest so that was what she did.

Five minutes later a much calmer Bella walked in with a tray laden with food and a steaming teapot.  
“So, Master Kili, how just you come to be in the Shire? We don’t get many Dwarfs-none in fact until now.” She said, slightly nervous at the prospect of having to make small talk with a Dwarf.  
“Just Kili, if you please, and I’m here because I’ve got nowhere else to go.” His voice was still resolutely cheery but Bella could see the sadness lurking in his face.  
“Call me Bella, then. I, uh, I’m sure you’ll be able to find work in Bree.” Bella offered weakly, feeling like a prize idiot.  
“Nah, I just came from Bree actually when I was...accosted. I figured I might as well go and see the Shire since I hadn’t heard much about it.” Kili leant back slightly in the chair, wincing slightly as he did.  
Bella laughed, “Most folk go somewhere because they heard good things about it, not nothing at all!”  
“I’m not most folk.” He took a bite out of the sandwich with a look of obvious trepidation crossing his face, “Could you tell that healer lady I’m sorry? I wasn’t in my right mind, I was in pain and all I saw was those Men that attacked me.”  
“Of course, though I’m sure she’s already forgiven you-you’re hardly the first one to get nervous under her ministrations...probably the first to threaten her with a fire poker, though.” As she spoke she gave some thought as to how to proceed, this wasn’t just some cousin staying the night, this was a real life Dwarf.  
“Ah, speaking of, do you know where my weapons are?” He said with careful nonchalance but Bella knew how important his weapons were to him, it was stressed heavily in every book she had read.  
“Yes, actually. Gardenia said she’d send them over tomorrow but the Shire isn’t a place you’re going to need them.”  
“How can they just take away my weapon? This is ridiculous!” He exclaimed suddenly, “She can’t do that.”  
“You’ll get them back.” She placated.  
“I’d better…” Then, after a pause, “I’m sure I’ll be feeling better by tomorrow so you can put me to work however you see fit.”  
Bella squashed down irritation like bile as she tried to remind herself that Dwarven culture was probably much different to her own, “You don’t owe me a thing, Master Kili. I’m happy to help you for as long as you need it. You really don’t need to do anything.”  
Kili’s face showed plain as day just how foreign that concept was to him, he opened his mouth but thought better of it, just shaking his head slightly with a small smile, nothing like the impish grins he’d shown before. “Aye, alright. But I refuse to sit on my arse for a month, any odd jobs you have; locks that need fixing-anything like that-come to me. I’m not as good as my uncle but I am a Dwarf and as such I’ll get the job done no problem.”  
“I can live with that...now, how do you feel about some tea?” She said, thinking of her rickety gate.

The rest of the night passed in that talkative fashion, they talked and ate and Bella found herself liking her new houseguest, and while Kili didn’t offer up much about his family he spoke at length about his home in Ered Luin and she found her cheeks heating slightly as he rambled happily, he looked so enthusiastic and joyous. Bella wondered then not for the first time why he trusted her so much.


	2. Chapter Two

Bella woke up all at once, instantly aware that she wasn’t alone in her smial and tried to calm herself down with the knowledge that Kili was probably trustworthy and as weak as a kitten to boot. Bella shoved down her anxiety and set about making breakfast. She padded down to the kitchen and checked on him on the way, Kili was spread across the entire bed with the sheet half on the floor and drool on his cheek, Bella smiled to herself. 

She set about working and ten minutes later heavenly smells purveyed the kitchen which seemed to be enough to wake Kili who Bella heard long before she saw.  
“Good morning! Is that bacon?” Kili’s improperly long hair was mussed and the laces on his tunic were half undone and Bella felt herself blush. Get a hold of yourself! She thought angrily.  
“Yes, it is, eggs and toast as well. Is that alright for you because I can make something else if-” Ah, the famous Baggins nervous rambling, almost as famous as the nervous Baggins complimenting…  
“It’s fine, lovely even. I can’t remember the last time I had something to eat that wasn’t either something I’d hunted or the oat gruel the Men gave me at the forge I used to work at.” Kili took his seat at the table without prompting.  
“That’s an awful shame, no one should go without good food! I can feed you up now, though, you’re still a growing boy!” Nothing got a Hobbit going like hearing about terrible food.  
Kili looked a bit crestfallen all of a sudden, “I know I haven’t got the longest beard but I’m not exactly a Dwarfling anymore.” Oh bother and damn it all, she’d offended him.  
“I-I didn’t mean it like that, Kili. I know you’re not a child! And you’ve got a fine beard,” That was a compliment, right? “Certainly better than anything we can get in the Shire. I just meant that you’re still young yet. I mean, I’m thirty-four and I still need a little taking care of sometimes.”  
The look on Kili’s face made her think she’d put her foot in it even more, he went bright red, spluttered uselessly for a few seconds before finally seeming to collect himself briefly before practically yelling, “What are you doing alone, then?!”  
Bella sighed, she got enough of this from her Baggins relatives, “Yes, yes, I know I should be married with fauntlings by now but it just isn’t-”  
“MARRIED?! But you’re a child!” Oh, of course. She remembered now that Dwarves aged slower than Hobbits.  
“Ah, there’s a little bit of confusion. Hobbits reach adulthood at thirty-three so you see I’m not a child by any means.” Kili’s horrified expression didn’t leave completely but he didn’t look like he might throw up anymore which was a good sign.  
“We reach maturity at seventy-five, but you probably already knew that.” He said sheepishly, “But if you’ve only been an adult a little while then why would they expect you to be married already?” He looked genuinely curious and not at all aware of how personal his line of questioning was, but as her father would say, never deny a guest.  
“It’s the Hobbit way; married by thirty-five, have five faunts and sit outside on your porch smoking pipeweed late into the night for the rest of your life. Oh, and gossip about your neighbours, that’s important.”  
“Five?! Mahal…” That shocked look was back, dammit.  
“As I was saying it’s just the way of it and I should either be married or seriously courting and I am doing neither. I courted before but I guess they all realised I was just too odd for them.” She didn’t even know she was telling him such personal things but she supposed it was easier to trust a stranger not to judge her than a friend.  
“They’re idiots, then. I don’t even know you that well and I know you’re really nice.” Kili seemed younger at that moment and so earnest it hurt to look.  
“I suppose…” She trailed away awkwardly, “I’ve not got a bad lot, all in all. I have my smial and my writing. I don’t think on it that often to be honest.” In an effort to lift the melancholy mood she switched topics hastily, “So, Kili, you were shocked at my age and now I know that Dwarves reach adulthood at seventy-five-how old are you? If that’s incredibly rude to Dwarves feel free not to answer of course.”  
“Have you given any thought to what I said about helping you? I’m injured not useless.” Kili pouted and Bella frowned at the abrupt change of topic.  
“I never said you were and the only thing I’ll be doing today is running some errands which you most certainly will not be helping with since you need your rest but once I’m done with those we’ll see what I can give you to do.” She said kindly.  
Kili reminded her fiercely of her Took cousins in that moment, always needing something to do...  
“That’s all I can ask, I suppose. You got any books? I hate reading but I might just have to make an exception seeing as you’re keeping me prisoner here in your Hobbit-hole.” Kili’s eyes glinted wickedly and Bella felt her breath catch slightly despite herself.  
“Uh...yes, of course. I’ll-I’ll go get them now, shall I?” With that she fled the room.

Alright, Bella thought to herself angrily as she practically stomped out her smial, after making sure Kili would be alright on his own, on her way to the market, this is getting ridiculous. So what if Kili was handsome? She had seen plenty of handsome folk. Not like him, though, her traitorous mind supplied mockingly. Bella growled and could be heard muttering about ‘damn Dwarves’ though none of her neighbours were brave enough to confront her about it in the state she was in.

Bella had taken it to be fact that while she could admit that various Hobbits and even Men were handsome she would never feel any attraction to them and would spend her life happily alone but Kili had torn that belief to shreds in the space of a few hours, she didn’t even know him for Eru’s sake! It was possibly the most inconvenient thing that could have happened because she had to nurse him and until then he couldn’t leave, not when she knew just how badly he had been doing before.  
“Good morning, Miss Bella! Mighty fine weather we’re having.” A young Hobbit named Jack Cornwood called to her from his garden, waving his rake cheerily at her.  
“Oh yes, absolutely lovely!” She replied from force of habit more than anything else. 

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you saw it Bella was done with her errands by midday and had to go back to her smial to check on her guest. She had calmed down somewhat but she feared she was going to turn the colour of her prizewinning tomatoes when she saw him, as she said, very inconvenient.  
“Hiya, Bella!” A loud voice sounded from the kitchen as soon as she stepped through the door. She rushed into the kitchen to find him covered in some sort of sludge and looking sheepish. “I got hungry and tried to make something to eat.”  
“It didn’t go that well, did it? Yavanna wept! My kitchen!” Any calm she had managed to gather during her errands fled from her now.  
“I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to be useless…” Kili had started to gather up the various bowls he had been using into a pile and was shuffling his feet nervously.  
“I-...I’m not angry I promise, Master Kili. You're my guest and I should have given you more to eat, I’m just not looking forward to cleaning this up is all.” She chuckled hesitantly but if anything it made the Dwarf more upset.  
“I didn’t mean to, I swear!” Bella’s heart ached for him all of a sudden and her annoyance left her in a big whoosh.  
“I’m not going to kick you out just...help me clean, would you?” Bella replied.  
“Course I will, I made the mess so I should clean it up, that’s what my Ma said anyway.”  
“Funnily enough, my mother said that too...now let’s get to work..” Bella rolled up her sleeves and set to sweeping up all the flour Kili had managed to cover the floor with as he washed and dried the bowls. 

Together they got the kitchen sparkling again in less than half an hour and Bella decided they’d more than earned a spot of late afternoon tea in the garden.  
“What are those?” Kili asked, picking the offending pastry up and staring at it intently .  
“That’s a scone-quite popular in the Shire, you know.” Bella plucked a scone off of the tray and spread a generous amount of cream and jam onto it before offering to him, eyebrow raised, “Want to try one? These ones are quite good, my Aunt’s special recipe.”  
Kili took the scone from her and she had to bite down a chuckle at how ridiculous it looked in his massive hands. He took a ginger bite before grinning and taking a bigger, more enthusiastic bite effectively covering his nose, chin and the front of his tunic.  
“You can laugh, I’ve never been the neatest Dwarf.” Kili chortled, it struck Bella how different this happy youth was to the terrified and terrifying warrior who she found yesterday.  
“I might take you up on that offer, you do look a tiny bit ridiculous,” She sniggered.  
“Oi! I said you could laugh, not insult me!” Kili whined.  
“Oh, am I giving you a bad impression of Hobbits? I’m afraid you’ll just have to deal with it as I’m the one taking care of you for the moment. Speaking of, Gardenia said we need to change your bandages right about this time.” Gardenia had sat Bella down and gave her a rundown on exactly what she’d need to do which basically meant changing his bandages, making sure he got rest and didn’t kill anyone.  
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I’ve been feeling better-I’ll be able to actually help you with whatever you were doing all day that was more important that taking care of an invalid Dwarf.” He said.  
“Right. Now let’s get you into your room-Gardenia said it was best if you laid down for this.” Kili was doing a good job of making her feel older than him regardless of actual age as he gasped and put a hand to his heart, an expression of exaggerated embarrassment scrawled across his features.  
“How forward of you! You should at least have made me something first!” But he just trotted ahead of her to the guest room. She wondered idly if he was an only child as she could imagine him charging around a mountain with a pack of Dwarven children much like Brandybuck and Took faunts were want to do. 

The mood was more subdued as he awkwardly took his tunic off to reveal the mass of bandages and bruises that covered his torso, she had seen it before but it still made her wince. Gardenia had given her a lot of bandages and a massive pot of strong-smelling balm and said that if his stitches broke to take him immediately down to her smial.  
“Right.” She muttered to herself, ignoring the Dwarf’s annoyingly exquisite face in favour of glaring at his hairy chest and mess of bandages, “I’ve got work to do.”  
Unwrapping the bandages was a delicate affair as Bella tried not to hurt him. The stitches were small and neat and the skin around them was slightly pink but she knew that was normal.  
“How are you feeling? Hot? Cold? Ill?” Kili shook his head, “Gardenia said this balm will feel hot on your skin so be aware of that.”  
“I’ll be fine. I’m a Dwarf and we’re used to working in-MAHAL! THAT BURNS!” He writhed but didn’t lash out which she was grateful for.  
“I did warn you. I’ll put on the new bandages and then you’ll be all done and you can have something to eat.” The promise of food worked on faunts and apparently Dwarves as well as he sat and let her poke him and redo his bandages without complaint. 

Kili pestered Bella even more to give him something to do and she eventually gave in even though all her Hobbit manners told her to not let him so much as get up off his chair. She managed to stop him stop him from bursting his stitches by having him help her with her knitting and as she watched him she found herself wishing that she had a talent for drawing because the image of Kili winding up a ball of wool with a focused expression as he undid the knots was something she never wanted to forget. 

A loud knock resounded throughout the smial in the early afternoon the next day and when Bella answered the door a Hobbit she barely knew was stood holding a large sword, some daggers and a bow and quiver as far away from his body as he possibly could.  
“Oh good! You’ve got my weapons!” Kili whooped, scaring the poor Hobbit even more as he plucked the weapons from his weak grasp.  
“Uh...yes, I do. Sorry, I couldn’t get them down yesterday-I had to help Aunt Gardenia with a delivery.” The Hobbit’s drawn and nervous face turned to her, “How are you, Miss Bella?” She just looked at him in confusion, “I’m Tomwise Stoor, Gardenia Stoor’s nephew.”  
Bella blinked owlishly at the slight hiss in his voice, “Why I’m quite alright! Do tell your Aunt that Master Kili is grateful for the treatment and also that he’s sorry for his outburst.” She thought that it wouldn’t be the best idea for Kili to speak to Tomwise as he would just scare him but she needn’t have bothered to save his feelings as Tomwise’s face became impossibly more pinched. Bella looked behind her to see Kili juggling his daggers.  
Bella paled and her heart stuttered, she was brave by Hobbit standards but even she couldn’t handle that.  
“Tomwise, I, um, think it would be best if you left now.” She forced the words out of her unwilling mouth and he seemed only too happy to oblige.  
“Of course, Miss Baggins. Good day!” He was already halfway down her garden path.  
“Kili! Could you not throw your weapons around near my mother’s best china!” Bella spluttered, red in the face at Kili who was still juggling his daggers, .  
He turned to her, “Can I throw my weapons around in the garden then?”  
“No, you most certainly cannot! You’re still healing and I will not be responsible for you bleeding to death on my mother’s rose bush!” Worry had fuelled her rage and when Kili visibly deflated she found herself feeling guilty, “I didn’t mean to shout at you I just don’t want you hurting yourself.”  
“But you don’t even know me.” Kili looked vulnerable stood there in her living room even with daggers in his hands.  
“No I don’t but that doesn’t mean I don’t care.” Bella said kindly.  
“Is that a Hobbit thing, then? Caring.” He said defensively.  
“Not exactly, not a lot of us would have taken you in to be honest.” Bella saw him flick his eyes to the braid resting next to her ear.  
“Oh yeah, I guess you’re only doing this because you’re a Dwarf-friend.” Kili muttered bitterly.  
“What? Dwarf-friend?” Bella was truly confused now and made sure he knew by the look on her face.  
“How can you not know what a Dwarf-friend is when you…?” His expression grew dark, “Who gave you that bead?”  
“I bought it in Bree a couple of weeks ago.” Understanding dawned on her, “Is this a Dwarf secret or something?”  
“Not really but you shouldn’t wear it anymore. Basically, a Dwarf-friend is someone who has been recognised as a help to Dwarves and is generally someone who has done a great deed or something like that.” Kili said.  
“Oh, of course. I’ll take it out now, it’s a beautiful bead, though.” Bella reached up to her hair roughly, fully aware of what a prize idiot she had been looking like. Culturally ignorant to boot and she tugged painfully harsh at her hair in her efforts to get it out as quickly as possible. “Here. You should have it. I don’t want it anymore as I have done no great deeds.” 

Kili’s mouth dropped open and a blush spread from his neck right up to his hairline, she could even see it under his stubble. Bella had no idea why what she had said would have caused that reaction in him but he noticeably got ahold of himself.  
“Aye, um, of course. I mean, you shouldn’t have it and I’m a Dwarf so…” Kili trailed off, scratching the back of his neck.  
“Right then.” Bella quickly pressed the bead into his open palm.

The next few days passed like that; Bella and Kili would breakfast together before Bella went out to either tend the garden or run errands while Kili tinkered about with various things that needed fixing-he had quite the knack for it and most of Bella’s neighbours came to him with their broken watches and jewelry once they found out about it, but the very first thing he had fixed was the handle of her trowel. You could have them sitting chatting and eating scones in the garden as he mends her trowel,This could be where he talks about what he’s going to do when he gets better, then have someone knock on the door and ask him to mend their clock or something like that. Then they would eat lunch together, Bella ate second breakfast and elevenses alone but Kili would sit by her and they would chat about what they had done that day or what they had yet to do. Then Bella would retire to her study to write and Kili would either nap or take a very short walk around Bella’s garden. Their routine grew oddly homely given Kili had only been staying with her five days, she resolutely ignored the shaming whispers of her fellow Hobbits and if Kili noticed anything he didn’t mention it. In fact, there was another rather large topic neither of them mentioned, Kili’s imminent departure. 

The quiet domesticity the two had achieved was always going to be short-lived, Bella knew that, but she hadn’t expected Kili to practically leap into the kitchen a few weeks later declaring that he was finally well enough to continue his travels. She couldn’t find it in her to be too sad though, not when Kili was talking so animatedly about what he was going to do now he was finally well again.  
“And of course I’ll come back and visit you, Bella, once I’ve set myself up. I’ll have to introduce you to my brother as well since you’ve saved my life, I think you’d like him.” Her heart ached but he looked so happy.  
“I’d love to meet Fili and you absolutely must visit me! Once a friend, always a friend.” She said with false brightness.  
“You couldn’t keep me away, I won’t be too far away in any case. I’ve been thinking of heading to The Marish or Stock, somewhere like that.” Kili sounded utterly carefree, Bella couldn’t help but think there wouldn’t be too much work to be had in those places but kept quiet.  
“Why not head back to The Blue Mountains? Wouldn't you have an easier time of it overall?” She asked.  
“Aye, but where’s the fun in that? I’ve spent all my life there and I don’t intend to go back for a while, I miss my Ma and my brother and uncle of course but I need to mine my own shaft to see if I find mithril, you know?” Kili said passionately.  
“Not really no.... when were you planning on leaving?” Bella resolutely did not look at the Dwarf she had so foolishly set her heart on.  
“Well, Mrs Stoor has to give me a check up to see if I’m well but all this Shire air must’ve done me good cause I’m raring to go now.” He said.  
“That’s, um, that’s really good. I’m happy for you, I know you’ve been missing your...craft was it?” She trailed off.  
“Yep. And I really have, fixing people’s necklaces isn’t the same as designing a beautiful piece of jewelry and seeing it come to being in front of my own eyes.” Kili chirped, eyes glinting. 

So Bella swallowed the bitter taste of heartache and focussed on getting everything ready for Kili, he had been right and Gardenia had proclaimed him healthy as a good harvest. So she helped him pack the few things he owned into a rucksack that had belonged to her mother, she made him so much food for his journey he had a tough time fitting it all in but he just grinned and thanked her for her hospitality, unaware of how blatant a show of feelings that was in Hobbit culture. 

The finality of that morning wasn’t lost on either of them as they bustled about the kitchen with practiced ease. He hadn’t left as soon Gardenia had said he could but instead he stayed another two days which Bella didn’t know whether to be thankful for or not. When he did leave, though, she walked with him right to the edge of the Shire, steadfastly ignoring the knowing looks she received off of her Took cousins in the background who were just barely tactful enough to leave them alone.  
“Well...um...I guess this goodbye then, Kili.” She said wistfully, not wanting to speak, not wanting that moment to end.  
“It’s goodbye for now. I’ll come back to visit you, I swear!” Kili sounded like he was trying to persuade her of something.  
Bella smiled ruefully, “You better had, Master Dwarf or I will march down to Stock, find you and hit you so hard with my ladle you’ll feel it for a week.”  
Kili laughed before suddenly becoming serious, “I have something for you. It’s not...um, it’s not my best work ‘cause I made it some time ago. You said Hobbits like stuff that has sentimental value well I made this bead when I first started studying jewelry-smithing.” He put his hand out hesitantly, fingers still hiding whatever was inside, “It’s not my best work but it’s made of mine own hand...I hope you like it.”  
He opened his hand and she gasped. It was a small bead, Bella knew it was silver or something like that and the metal wrapped around itself in a beautiful pattern that much resembled a three-strand braid and was dotted with little green crystals.  
“Oh my...Kili...it…” Bella was stunned, too affected for words.  
“You don’t like it, do you? Mahal, I should have known better than to give a bauble I made when I wasn’t even of age-” Kili was starting to panic so she took pity on him and cut him off.  
“No! I love it, truly I do. I don’t think I’ve ever received such a fine gift as this. It’s beautiful, Kili.” She smiled warmly at him, the gift was indeed very fine.  
“Will you wear it then?” The Dwarf said earnestly, eyes dark and wide.  
“Of course I will, it’s a wonderful gift. It’s far too fine for me but I’ll wear it.” Bella could see her Took cousins hiding behind a hillock and glared at them before Kili could notice them.  
“That’s...that’s good. I’ve got to go now or I never will. I’ll see you in a few months and definitely by Winter.” They had only known each other for a few weeks but Kili had her closest friend in their time spent together and she could see the sentiment reflected in his own watering eyes. 

Kili pulled her into a crushing hug, squeezing the life out of her for a good twenty seconds before pulling away and wordlessly heading off down the dirt road. Bella watched him go, his bead resting in her hair until the pinprick of his dark hair against the horizon was gone and only then did she turn and head back to answer the questions of her fluttering relations. They bombarded her over elevenses (“Who is he?” “Why was he in your house?” “Is he a warrior?” “ Is he coming back?” “Does he have any single relations that look like him?” “Why do you look so sad?”) until she couldn’t take it anymore and politely ran away, unable to talk about him to those who wouldn’t understand. And especially unable to face the knowing glances of her older female relations who Bella knew had lost their own loves.

The trip back to her smial was grueling as she was stopped every two minutes to be interrogated under the guise of concern by her fellow Hobbits on her less-than-proper houseguest. Gardenia had done a good job of keeping them off her back when she spread the word that Bella had saved his life and was only nursing him to health and while that mostly took care of the rumours that her virtue wasn’t intact it didn’t do a thing for her reputation as a risk taker with one foot out of the Shire.  
“Friends with a Dwarf indeed, I don’t give a toss if she was looking after him or not that hug was not just friendly...I don’t like it.” She had heard Mister Hawthorn Proudfoot mutter and she flinched at his tone, she had often played with his daughter, Meredith and her siblings when she was a faunt and he had brought out ginger biscuits and lemonade for them while they ran about aimlessly in their garden. 

Once she had stumbled through the door of her smial she sat down heavily in her comfortable armchair and looked about her, though her living room looked exactly the same it felt empty without her Dwarf there tinkering away or reading a book absently. It felt deathly silent without his jovial humming to fill the space and she realised just how lonely she was going to be from now on without him there. It felt cold without his warmth. Sure, he might visit but it wouldn’t be the same, they would never have worked at any rate-he was far too good for her, far too bright. Fat tears streamed down her face, tickling her cheeks and she rubbed viciously at her face, willing the liquid to stop flowing but it wouldn’t. Kili wouldn’t be crying right now, he’d be humming a tune to himself or trying to figure out what the clouds looked like but not missing her, never her. Thinking about him wasn’t helping either as she started hiccuping pitifully, sobs choking their way out of her chest. Despite Bella’s current unmarriageable state now she was no stranger to courtship or infatuation and she was determined that this was mere infatuation. He was new and she was attracted to that, now he was gone she would get over him. It might take a bit of time but it would happen, it had to happen.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They exchange letters.

Bella didn’t get over it. Harvest came and went and she was still just as infatuated as she had been two months ago. She received a hastily scrawled letter from Kili around that time which she practically ripped in half trying to open..

 

Dear Bella, 

 

Work is going well because there aren’t any other jewellers or blacksmiths here so they’re awfully thankful to have me. I get paid good money and I have a nice room so I’d say it’s all going well. The people here aren’t the friendliest lot but it’s fine, I’m fine. I hope you’re doing well, your Aster should be blooming around now, right? I’ve missed talking to you and I hope to be able to make the trip up to the Shire by Winter. 

 

Yours,  
Kili

 

She reread the letter over and over, disappointed at the length but at least she had his address and she could write to him, she desperately wanted to talk to him. She’d catch herself thinking ‘Oh, Kili will want to hear about this’ or ‘What would Kili say?’’ with alarming frequency. However when she set herself up in her study, quill in hand Bella no idea what to say. She wanted to talk about her garden and all the flowers that were blooming and she wanted to rant about her neighbours and her relatives and she wanted to ask about how he was really doing since the letter didn’t go into it in any sort of satisfying detail. She wanted to know whether he was lonely, whether he missed her or not because she missed him so much it hurt sometimes and she forgot to breathe and it didn’t get any better with time…

 

Dear Kili, 

 

You’re right about the Aster as I noticed it starting to bloom not two days before I received your letter. I am doing as well as I ever have, I’ve started writing a new book about various jam recipes which is keeping me busy. You have no idea how difficult it is to get a Hobbit to part with their secret and much-treasured jam recipes! My vegetable patch is doing very well, I might even have enough to sell some. Not the carrots though-you know how much I like carrot cake. 

Your letter was very short but I fear mine might not be much longer. There is so much I want to say that just will not leave my quill and go onto the paper I’m afraid. I’ve told you about me so I suppose I shall talk about everyone else, Gardenia is doing well in case you wanted to know. She’s expanded her smial which is a mixed blessing, she only needed to do that because the farmers have started using these new machines from Bree and keep getting their feet stuck in it-it’s an awful affair in truth, lot of shredded feet and no foot hair left to speak of. 

Magnolious Took, you know, the one with the blue waistcoat with birds on who you said had a weird chin, he’s decided to marry a Manish lass he met in Bree and it’s causing quite the stir, I can’t leave my smial without hearing about it in fact. 

Enough about me though, how have you been? Your letter didn’t say anything other than work was good. Are there any other Dwarves in Stock? If so, are they friendly? If not, have you made any other friends? What does it look like where you are? I’m just curious to know about the little things since you already know about my smial. 

To end this letter I’ll say that I’m looking forward to receiving a reply and I dearly hope that your work only grows more prosperous.

 

Yours,   
Bella

 

As she read over her letter she realised it had a decidedly desperate air about it but let it be since she knew full well she was a tad desperate and it would show in her words no matter what. It took more courage than she expected to send the letter but she did and she received a timely reply. The postman raised an eyebrow at the letter when he handed to her, presumably because of the decidedly non-Hobbitish handwriting. 

 

Bella, 

 

It was good to read your letter, hearing about Hobbiton was a nice way to end a very tiring day, though every day is tiring for me nowadays. I remember that you Hobbits love gossip almost as much as we Dwarves do, is marrying outside of your race really serious for Hobbits then? I had no idea. 

I can picture your garden full of colour which is nothing like where I am, Stock is green but there aren’t many flowers as no one has the inclination, the room or the patience to grow them, myself most definitely included.

And to answer your many, many questions Stock is a town full of activity all the time, full of people too and yes some of them are Dwarves though I don’t really get on with them. They’re a bit too stuffy as well as a great deal older than me. I don’t have friends here, I have people I go to the inn with but that’s about it. My room is small, well, smaller than the others but I don’t mind since it’s made for a Man and so it’s plenty big enough for me (even if I feel ridiculous having to literally climb into bed). If I look out of the window all I see it a very dirty street with people walking about, that’s all I ever see really since I only really go to work, the inn and then my room. I can imagine you scolding me for not walking about more but I’m so tired all the time.

I’ve written to my family as well, Fili wants me to go back to Ered Luin but I don’t want to. I was always treated like a fool there and I’m enjoying my freedom. My mother is happy that I’m making money but wants me to go back also and my uncle doesn’t seem to have much of an opinion, only offering some advice on how to work more efficiently-he’s a blacksmith you see. So yes, that’s about it really. Let me know how you are and tell me all about any new gossip that happens since every time I hear about some ‘scandalous’ thing someone’s done it makes me piss myself laughing since it probably wouldn’t raise a hairy eyebrow in Ered Luin. 

 

Yours,   
Kili

 

Bella’s cheeks ached with smiling as she read the letter, she fretted at how much Kili was working and made a note to tell him off about it. She found herself making lots of metal notes like that, just little things that she wanted him to know about and she realised that she wanted him to know everything. It was odd to have a friend that she didn’t speak to with words but instead letters on a page, Bella felt like there was a lot that went unsaid by the both of them. What a poor job words did of communicating feelings sometimes.

 

Dear Kili,

 

I’m glad you wrote to your family and I hope they aren’t making you feel too guilty, I know how family can be sometimes. There hasn’t been much gossip in the in the two weeks since I sent my last letter, apart from the fact that Magnolious has married that Manish girl who we now know is called Grimelda. They just took off, apparently someone saw him sailing down the Brandywine river with her-quite scandalous I assure you even if it wouldn’t ‘raise a hairy eyebrow’ in Ered Luin. 

Harvest is truly over at last, thank Yavanna, I was getting sick of going to parties and having to dance with my awfully dull cousins which seems to be tradition this time of year. I had the massive job of making a jam out of all the leftover fruit from both mine and Gaffer’s gardens, at least I put all those hard-won jam recipes to use! Do you remember the trowel you fixed? Well it broke again and this time the metal bit just snapped in half, can you believe that? I’ll have to go to Bree to get a new one soon since I have lots of planting to do before Autumn sets in.

If you were hoping I’d finish this letter without addressing the fact that you’re working too hard you are sorely mistaken, Kili son of Vili. I don’t want you passing out and falling into your forge from exhaustion. Please take more breaks and walk around...for me? I swear it’ll make you feel better, that and drink more water. As I’m sure you know I sent along with this letter a few jars of strawberry jam and some carrot cake which I hope you enjoy eating as much as I did making.

 

Yours,   
Bella

 

If one of the other reasons she was happy harvest was over was because it meant that Winter was closer then no one was the wiser since she would never mention it ever. Affection flooded Bella’s heart when she got a reply from him in the form of a parcel carefully wrapped in brown paper. When she opened it she gasped when she saw a new trowel inside. The metal gleamed and it felt sturdy in her hands, he had obviously put a lot of work into this and the metal looked like it was expensive.

 

Dear Bella,

 

I got your jam and cake which were both delicious by the way, totally worth the royal teasing I got from my landlord for bringing in a pot of jam with lace around the edges to breakfast. I hope you like the trowel I made you, Bella. I couldn’t stand the thought of you having to use the shoddy work that Men do, it was no trouble so if you ever need anything else like that let me know. I take care of my friends.

I took your advice and started taking more breaks with work and you were right, I even made a friend. I mean, it’s the cow that lives in the field near where I work but it’s better than nothing! [Here the ink splattered slightly and Bella imagined that he had been laughing as he wrote it.] Speaking of friends, have you made any new ones? I remember you had a few but I don’t want you lonely, alright? If you can order me to work less I can order you to be a bit more social. 

My mother and brother are planning on taking a trip to see me which I am a bit terrified of because as I’ve told you my mother is a scary lady. I missed Fili though, we’re still close and it’s as odd writing to him as it is you because I just want to talk to him face to face. Winter is nearly here and then I can take some time off and come to see you, I was told that there’s this festival called Yule around then-we could celebrate together! 

Wish me luck with my mother, Bella...

Yours,   
Kili

 

Bella gripped the letter tightly in her shaking hands, she had taken to putting all the letters she got off of him in a box in her wardrobe because she just missed him so much. The letters were a poor replacement with barely any of the banter they usually shared but even so she Kili even consider her a friend was far more than she could have asked for.

The letters were sent back and forth with such regularity that she started getting knowing looks off the postman, especially since Kili had started gifting her things. Not massive things in the scheme of things but she loved them all the same. A new gardening set, a cooking pot, kitchen knives-anytime she vaguely mentioned something she needed or wanted something that he could make, it was sent along with his reply. In turn she sent him food as often as she could: pies, cakes, biscuits, cured meats-anything that would keep really though deserts were her specialty. Kili joked that she kept him so well fed he’d need new clothes and that she’d be paying for them, she replied by saying she could make them herself and had ordered him to send her any mending that needed doing and took to making him clothes sometimes, knitted scarves and the like. 

Bella’s letters to Kili kept her going until he could visit but when she woke up one day there was a chill in the air she danced for joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I hope you enjoy!


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Circumstances bring Bella and Kili closer together than ever.

Winter had approached way too slowly for Bella’s liking and once it had arrived she woke up every day expecting Kili to be at her door and about a week after sleet fell on Hobbiton for the first time that year he showed up at her door, ruddy-cheeked and even broader than before.   
“KILI!” Bella flung herself at him, quickly dragging him through the door even as she wrapped her arms firmly around his neck.  
“Bella, khebabmudtu (heart-forge/forge of my heart)...how have you been? The letters just don’t cover it.” Kili’s voice wavered slightly and the rumbling sounds that Bella knew to be Khuzdul made her shiver in his arms-this hug was starting to get awkwardly long and even though she didn’t want to let go she did and pushed herself away to get a better look at him.  
“Well enough, Hobbiton is boring without my best friend.” She grinned, feeling lighter than she had in months.  
His eyes lit up with an emotion she couldn’t name, “Best friend? I...I’m honoured, I would name you my best friend, also.”   
“Good! Now, your journey was tiring, right? I’m sure you’d love a good sit down and something to eat.” Bella pulled away completely even though she was loathed to do it and without waiting for an answer bustled off to the kitchen.

Kili wandered leisurely behind her and she heard him plop himself down somewhere. Bella was struck by a need to take care of him, to cherish him that she had been told she’d feel but never had before and it left her at a loss. Bella rushed around with practiced ease making some sandwiches and fetching some of the ginger biscuits Drogo and Primula had given to her last week. Once she had a tray of food and a pot of tea she walked back into the living room and her heart stopped-Kili was sat in his chair, the one she could never sit in anymore and was fishing around in his rucksack, the one that was her mother’s. She was struck that seeing him there felt like home and it terrified her-she knew that she would only ever be his friend but her treacherous heart wouldn’t be told that.  
“Oh, that looks nice. I’ve been living off cram for the past two days though so anything would look nice…” Kili looked up at her from under his eyelashes and hopped up to take the tray from her and set it on the small table she used mostly to eat by herself when she didn’t have visitors.   
“You’re brilliant at giving a compliment and taking it back all in one sentence!” Bella snorted, setting out the tea cups and arranging the food properly.   
“So I’ve been told…”   
They didn’t speak for a few minutes after that in favour of eating and she took that time to sneak glances at him when he wasn’t paying attention. When she was speaking to him she could control the pounding of her heart but looking at him in that moment was almost too much. The Winter morning light shone through the window and lit his dark hair with strands of the most beautiful light brown, it did the same to his eyes and Bella realised his eyes weren’t the pools of black she had once thought. They were, in fact, brown with green and amber flecks and in that moment she wished she knew what gem they looked like. Kili was unaware of all the thoughts going on in her head as he happily munched on his neatly cut sandwich.   
“Oh! I forgot to ask, how have you been? The letters just don’t cover it.” She echoed his words back to him ryely.   
“Good, I mean, Ma’s been starting to really get on my case about coming back to Ered Luin but I don’t want to. I made the mistake of telling her I wasn’t enjoying Stock anymore and now she won’t shut up about it. Fili is being Fili, saying that I should do what makes me happy which only makes me feel worse and uncle is no help at all.” Kili ranted, only stopping to stuff more food into his mouth. It was horribly endearing.   
“Ah, I know all about nosey family members. My grandmother has taken it upon herself to marry me off, she says she can’t stand me living in such a nice smial with no faunts to fill it. That and if I carry on the way I am I’ll end up a spinster.” Bella sighed, her grandmother had invited herself over for tea just yesterday in fact and spent the entire time yelling at her.   
“What? That’s awful! You shouldn’t have to marry anyone you don’t want to, what if you don’t love them?” Bella shook her head at his surprisingly naive statement.  
“Love has nothing to do with it in truth. My grandmother wants me married off to a respectable Hobbit lad and for me to move in with him so she can move her cousins into my smial, she says she’s worried about my reputation and loneliness but that is the truth of it.” Kili looked stricken as she spoke which comforted her a bit.  
“How could your grandmother make you marry someone who isn’t your One?” He asked.  
“One? I have no idea what that is but whatever it is we Hobbits don’t have it. But you’re right, I don’t want to marry someone I don’t love.” She said, reaching her hand up to twirl the bead Kili gave her, a habit she had gotten into as soon as he left. She didn’t notice how his eyes fixed on her hair intensely, the brown of them darkening to obsidian.   
“Dwarves have a One, the one person who is the other half of our soul. It was Mahal’s gift to us, someone who could be more important to us than our craft. Finding our One is a gift and a curse but if we don’t find them we very rarely marry and if we find our One and they do not want us then we will have no other because there can be no other.” Kili explained this as if he had been told those same words many times in his life.  
“That sounds lovely but how do you know if they’re you’re One-it all sounds pretty complicated.”   
“Aye, it is. It’s different for every Dwarf...some know from the moment they meet them that they’re fated and some only know months or years later but it’s common to realise after a few weeks. You know because leaving them is the hardest thing you’ll ever do, but you’ll do it if that means you can take of them better. Every single thing about them is perfect to you, you find yourself thinking of their laugh or their glare at random moments. Their voice is imprinted in your soul and you’ll do anything to just have one more moment with them, to hear their voice one last time. If your One dies then you’re never the same, Dwarves aren’t like Elves, we don’t fade but we’re never the same-never truly happy again.” As he spoke Bella felt herself tear up, the thought of Kili feeling like that about her was too much for her to even contemplate and it terrified her how much of that she recognised.   
“That’s beautiful, Kili…”  
“Hmm?” He replied distractedly, “It is, isn’t it?”

They didn’t speak again after that, a comfortable silence filled the room for a while and she revelled in it. Bella missed this, missed being with him-just sitting together in silence as much as she missed his voice or his friendly touches. The two of them spent the day catching up, there were lots of things that both of them hadn’t been able to put into letters.   
“How long will you be staying?” Bella finally brought herself to ask just as they were both heading their rooms for the night.  
“Ah, a few weeks-more than a month. You can’t get rid of me that easily,” Kili grinned sleepily, letting out a great yawn and stretching granting her a choice view of a lightly haired stomach. Bella blushed scarlet and thanked Eru that Kili was already heading off to the guest room. 

As the days passed Bella and Kili fell into a routine with the same ease they had the first time and the intensity of Bella’s feelings only grew brighter and she realised too late one evening that she loved him. She was in love with the Dwarf who was currently sharpening his sword in her garden and as she looked at his face frowning in concentration, only a candle to illuminate it because he had assured her that Dwarves could see well in darkness and with the candle could see just as well as he could in the day. The ferocity of her feelings caught her off guard but she welcomed it, her mother had always told her love was a gift and if she was blessed enough to truly feel it to not let her head tell her heart to push it away. Bella knew that she could never tell him how she felt, he was gorgeous and brilliant and funny and kind whereas she was a simple woman with some money but not much else. She had no great beauty or ability to charm, she wasn’t good enough for him, plain and simple. 

Everything stopped, however, when a very somber Hobbit called Mister Dewberry came to her smial with very bad news. He told her to sit down, paying no attention to Kili who was shuffling about the kitchen awkwardly.   
“I’m afraid I have bad news today, Miss Baggins. Your cousins Primula and Drogo Baggins were found last night in the river, downed.” His voice was calm, too calm. Primula had always been a wonderful Hobbit, bright and ever-laughing and Drogo, calm, kind Drogo had loved her with everything he had so no one had dared to disapprove of their union. Bella realised she was sobbing in earnest but Mister Dewberry just shot her a sympathetic look and carried on, “They named you their next of kin and they said that if they ever died that Frodo’s care would be left to you.”  
“What? I’m just their cousin! There are plenty of people better able to take care of Frodo.” Her breath was coming in short ragged bursts.   
“Be that as it may you are his guardian now. You can, of course, leave Frodo’s care to someone else but that will take awhile to get sort out and Frodo doesn’t have a while-he needs somewhere to stay and a familiar face.” He said.  
“Oh, Frodo,” Bella gasped, “I have to take him in, he’ll be so scared right now. Where is he?”  
“He is currently staying with Adamanta Baggins who said she would be willing to care for him for a short while but didn’t have the means to take him in for more than a few days.” Grandma Baggins was known for her ability to seem charitable when she was anything but, Bella knew that her grandmother could house Frodo indefinitely as she certainly had no money problems.   
“I’ll have to get everything ready for Frodo, could you tell Adamanta that I’ll be taking him in a few days. I...I have to get everything ready.” Bella’s face was pale and drawn, a mountain of stress and grief put on her young shoulders in the space of a few minutes.  
“Of course, well, I should be going now, Miss Baggins. I’ll see myself out. I shall tell Mrs Baggins that you will be taking Frodo.” He paused in the doorway, “You’re very brave for doing this. Not many are able to take care of another’s child.”

The door closed softly and Bella turned to see Kili standing at the other side of the room. She sniffed and in seemingly no time at all she was wrapped firmly in his arms, she pressed her face against his throat and she knew he could feel her tears.   
“Shh...ghivashel (treasure of all treasures), we’ll get through this. I won’t leave you, not now. You’re so strong and I’m so glad to count you as a frien,.” the Dwarf murmured into her hair and she cried harder.  
“I don’t know if I can do this but I have to. When my parents died I was so alone and I won’t have dear Frodo going through that. He’s only ten,” Bella felt Kili’s harsh intake of breath, “I don’t know what to do, Kili..”  
“Tell me what to do, tell me how to help you.” Kili whispered, voice oddly choked, arms squeezing her tighter to his chest, Bella could feel the laces of his tunic pressing against her.  
“Be with me, I can’t do this alone. I need to get everything set up before I can do it alone. I’m sorry to take you away from your work-”   
“Hush. If you think my work is more important to me than you, you are sorely mistaken.”  
“Thank you.” 

The sunlight waned and faded into non-existence before Bella could bring herself to leave his arms and Kili didn’t seem to have a problem with holding her even though he must have been getting tired. Bella cried in her bed that night, mourning the loss of two spectacular Hobbits and some of her only friends and the fact that Frodo would grow up an orphan like she had done. Bella cried for herself and the pain of her lost parents that never left, not truly. Kili had told her about his father and held her and wiped the tears from her cheeks and it was far more than she had ever deserved, having him with her was more than she deserved but she was selfish enough to take it with both hands. 

There was surprisingly little to be done in the way of paperwork and Kili pretty much commandeered the preparation of what was to be Frodo’s room which meant they finished it fairly quickly and two days later Bella was trudging down to Grandma Baggins’ smial which was a well kept and grand affair where Frodo was. Bella had known Frodo all his life, had held him as a babe and as soon as she met his bluer-than-blue eyes she knew he was special, she had a soft spot for the child a mile wide and the feeling was mutual but she didn’t know if she could be what he needed.   
“Bella!” Grandma Baggins met her at the garden gate and looked at her gravely, Hobbits rarely ever died of anything other than old age and no one really knew how to deal with it.  
“Grandma, how is he?” She said simply.  
“Quiet. But that’s to be expected. He doesn’t eat a lot but he’s no trouble.” Bella remembered sitting alone in Bag End watching the shadows move around her room as the time passed, not eating, barely breathing.   
“Can I go and see him now?” Bella knew she was being rude but decided she could allow herself to be given the circumstances.   
“Of course, he’s in his room. I’ll get Daisy to go and get him.” She waved her hand and Daisy, a middle-aged Hobbit who wasn’t known for anything other than being totally respectable and Daisy nodded, seeming to understand even though she couldn’t have possibly heard.  
Bella followed her Grandmother into the artfully cozy smial and sat awkwardly in their living room and was stuffed with scones by a nervous Hildegard. Frodo walked through the door and he seemed smaller somehow even though he hadn't lost weight, Bella knew he was being crushed by the weight of his loss and his concerned relatives.   
“Hello, Frodo. I’ve come here to talk to you. Alone.” She ignored the affronted looks of her fellow Hobbits, “Would you like that?”   
Frodo looked at her consideringly for a moment before nodding. Bella smiled at him and took his hand, leading him to the garden where she knew they’d get some privacy. Neither of them spoke for a while but to her surprise, Frodo was the one to break the silence.   
“Grandma sent for you, didn’t she? You’re not here cause you want to be.” Frodo said sullenly, Bella knew he was hurting and that’s why he was lashing out but she had to fight hard not to show the pain on her face.   
“I’ll admit that she might have had something to do with it but I came here because I care about you. You’re parents...they said that they wanted me to take care of you if anything happened. If you don’t want that I can sort something out, I would never make you stay with me. But I lost my parents too and I still miss them, I know I’m not your parents-I’m never going to replace them, I wouldn’t even want to try but we could still be a family.” The fight was lost it seemed as tears welled in her eyes, she’d been crying a lot lately.   
“I...I’d like that,” Came a tiny voice after a long silence.  
She pulled him to her chest tightly, “I’d like that too, Frodo. I’d like that too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Any thoughts are really appreciated :)


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A slice of domestic bliss

As Winter faded to Spring Kili became her rock. He was good with Frodo in a way that made her heart ache fiercely. Bella had started to teach Frodo because his education shouldn’t suffer just because he was grieving; he was a bright faunt and picked up anything she taught him with ease and Kili had started to teach him various things as well, mostly how to differentiate gems but it made her smile all the same. He even asked if he could teach Frodo archery and swordplay if he made special child-safe versions of the deadly weapons and he looked so sincere that she couldn’t say no.  
“Sen, sin, tan, tain, ent, int.” (This, this plural, that, that plural, that yonder, that yonder plural.) Bella was determined to teach Frodo Sindarin and while he picked it up quickly he often grew bored with his studies, wanting to go and play with Kili instead.   
“Sen, sin, tan….ten?”  
“Tain.”   
“Sen, sin, tan, tain, ent, int.”   
“Agoreg vae, Frodo.” (You did well, Frodo.) She smiled at him happily, reminded of her own lessons from her mother.   
“I don’t know why you teach Frodo that language. Why you’d ever want him to speak to Elves I’ll never know,” Kili wandered in, trousers covered in dirt as he was making a valiant attempt of late to learn to garden.   
Bella sniggered and Frodo just looked at them confused, “I’m well aware of how Dwarves feel about Elves but it doesn't make you sound any less like an uppity old man.”   
Kili started laughing then and Frodo giggled because both his guardians were happy.   
“You’re right, I did sound quite a bit like my uncle Thorin just then. Then again, he’d try to forbid you from teaching Frodo Elf-speak altogether so be thankful I’m just teasing you.” Kili said mock-seriously.  
“Sindarin. And Thorin can’t forbid me to do anything.” Bella huffed, the more she heard about Thorin the less she liked him, even if he was as brave as Kili said he was.  
“That’s why I said try. He couldn’t actually do it."  
"Hobbit woman are fierce which I’m sure you know by now seeing as you’ve met Lobelia, sorry about that by the way.” She blushed, remembering how close she’d been to slapping that wretch of a Hobbit for daring to invite herself over to her smial over only to make insinuations about her living arrangements. Now she thought about it, Bella regretted not slapping her, consequences be damned-especially when Kili told her how such talk from Lobelia would have been received in a Dwarven household.  
Kili just laughed, “Aye, well, when I was watching you two go at it, you were the fierce one-she just looked ridiculous.”  
Bella smirked and Frodo laughed-he didn’t like Lobelia either, “I’m glad I have such a steadfast Dwarf as a friend, fierce indeed, I was merely informing her of what a prize rotter she was being.”   
“‘Prize rotter’ I like that, we don’t have that saying in Ered Luin.” Kili said.   
“Oh, do you not have rotters in Ered Luin then?” Bella cocked her said to the side sarcastically.  
“I’m sure they have rotters in Ered Luin, Auntie. They just don’t know they’re rotters.” Frodo clapped a hand over his mouth in mortification, tears in his eyes when he realised what he’d called her, “I’m sorry! It just came out!”  
Bella rushed over to him and pulled the faunt into a tight hug, looking over to Kili for unspoken support which he gave by going to the kitchen to get some blueberry muffins Bella had made the other day which were Frodo’s favourite. Things were still a little tense between the three of them, they were constantly testing out boundaries in order to see just what would work for them. Being a family was a difficult thing, indeed, Bella grew to realise.  
“Frodo, my love, you have nothing to be sorry for. When I said to you that I would never replace your parents I meant it but that doesn’t mean that I don’t love you or that I’m not honoured that you’d called me Auntie.” Bella ran shaking hands through Frodo’s hair as memories of lonely days stretching into lonelier weeks with no one to care about her assaulted her mind. 

Kili had given them a few minutes to talk, thankfully, but he wandered in after a while with a plate of muffins and a small smile. Kili was never one to be sad for too long and he soon coaxed Frodo’s lips up into a smile with his story of how he had called his sword instructor, Dwalin ‘Mum’ once and still hadn’t lived it down forty years later.  
“He mentioned it to me in his last letter, in fact! Mahal...that was a long time ago now, I really should tell him where I’m living now.”

Later Frodo asked Bella if it would be rude if he called Kili Uncle and she had to choke down a sob, the pain of living this close to the one she loved so dearly without it being requited was getting to her. Before the two adults went to bed that night she told Kili what Frodo had said and she thought she saw tears in his eyes but it could have been a trick of the candlelight.  
“Children are so rare amongst our kind, being a mother or father is a great honour, indeed, even being an uncle or aunt is something we Dwarves cherish jealously. Frodo doesn’t know the honour he does me but I will try my best to live up to it before I have to go.” Kili said, uncharacteristically somber.  
“When will you be going?” Bella managed to speak with a nonchalance that she didn’t feel and felt very foolish that the fact that he would have to leave sooner rather than later hadn’t occurred to her, she just purposefully hadn’t thought about it too much.  
“Not until you have everything set up with Frodo, I would never leave you to fend for yourself like that. But I do have to leave at some point, I have my forge and it’s incredibly lucky that they were okay with me leaving for two whole months.” They had stopped outside of Bella’s door and Kili was leaning over her ever so slightly, “I wish I could help you more, you’ve got all the money you need-I know that but I wish I could do more.”  
“You being here is more than I could ever ask for, you bring so much happiness to our house. Frodo loves you.” I love you.   
Kili looked relieved, “I’m glad. Well, um, we’d better get to bed then. Goodnight.”  
“Goodnight.” Bella smiled up at him before disappearing behind her door. 

As Bella lay in her bed she thought about her life in a way that can only happen in the dark, she loved Kili, that much was obvious as much as she wished it wasn’t the case. But what would she do? Hobbits weren’t like Elves, they could love more than once but their love wasn’t fickle like that of Men, once a Hobbit fell in love there wasn’t much they could do to get out it save death. I had always known I’d be a spinster, though I always thought it would be by choice, she snorted bitterly but turned over to go to sleep. There was no point lying awake thinking about things that couldn’t be changed. 

Bella woke up the next day to Frodo jumping on her bed excitedly, she groaned but looked over to the enthusiastic faunt.   
“Auntie! Uncle Kili said he’d teach me how to use a bow if you said it was alright, he made me my own bow and I really want to do it. Please?” Frodo spoke so fast that her sleep-addled brain had trouble following it but she got the gist.  
“Well...it’s not the most proper thing to do,” Frodo frowned, “But...I have no problem with it as long you’re safe and I have no doubt that Kili will keep you safe.”   
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Bella! I’ll keep him safe.” The Dwarf poked his head around the door, a smile tugging at his lips.  
“You’d better keep him safe, I only just got him and I don’t want to have to find a replacement,” Bella joked.  
“Oh yeah, replacement children are an awful bother to find, as I recall, I remember my amad saying something similar,” He shot a look at Frodo who was trying to look indignant but wasn’t doing a good job of it since he was smothering a laugh with his sleeve.  
“Definitely, frightful business. I’d much rather keep the one I’ve got, thank you very much. Now, I’ll go make breakfast, make sure this one brushes his teeth-you know how he is,” She said.  
“Aye, I’ll get the little one washed and brushed,” He replied.  
“Aww, I wanted to go now,” Frodo whined.  
“Not before breakfast, no Hobbit shall miss breakfast in this house, or Dwarf for that matter. In fact, that reminds me, get him back for second breakfast, would you?” She asked.  
“Aye…” Kili trailed off oddly, Bella looked down and realised her nightshirt was revealing a lot more of her than she would usually show and blushed, pulling it up, “now let’s go, Frodo and give Auntie Bella some peace.” He said quickly, picking the faunt up and carrying him out squealing all the while.

Frodo chatted excitedly about how excited he was to learn to shoot all throughout breakfast which Bella was grateful for since she was still terribly embarrassed about the nightshirt incident. She remembered reading about Dwarven women and knew that they had beards but also that they didn’t tend to have any breasts to speak of, that explained why Kili seemed so unnerved by them. Bella cringed inwardly at how ugly she must look to him with no beard to speak of and roundness where a Dwarven woman would have muscle. Of course he’d never want me, I must be disgusting to him. Instead of crying like she wanted to she just angrily buttered a piece of toast and munched it aggressively, ignoring Frodo’s curious look. 

The boys soon left to go and practice in a field Kili had managed to hire off of Farmer Chubb, Bella did some writing in her study but it wasn’t much use as she found every poem she tried to write reflected Kili and any prose she attempted fell flat. Bella growled and slammed her pen onto her desk with more force than was strictly necessary. 

Time passed passed slowly for Bella and she soon found herself staring at the clock, willing the hands to move so she could set about preparing second breakfast so she could see Kili again. She had thoroughly given up on getting over her feelings for the Dwarf but she did resent how the fluttery feeling in her chest made her act like a tween again when she was a grown Hobbit, thank you very much. She bustled around the kitchen like a madwoman, preparing the very best food she could. Bella was immensely thankful that she had gone to the market last week and so had a pantry fit to burst even by Hobbit standards.

Food prepared, she made her way down to Farmer Chubb’s field, Kili had vaguely mentioned where it was but she was left to find its exact whereabouts herself. She didn’t have to look long, though, because she heard the sound of Kili’s laughter and her feet seemed to know where to go from there.   
“Kili! Frodo!” She shouted to her two boys who were focussed entirely on the makeshift range Kili had created the day before, “It’s time for second breakfast.”   
Kili looked up to her and smiled, eyes crinkling. “I had no idea it was that time already. Come on, Frodo, let’s go eat so we can satisfy your Aunt’s near frantic need to feed us.”   
“Well, I won’t have you fading away to dust on my watch and I knew you weren’t coming back to the house so I decided to bring breakfast to you,” She huffed.   
“Of course not, Auntie. What did you make?” Frodo piped up, already rifling through the basket.  
“Nothing too fancy, love. Just some sandwiches. I also brought a flask of tea which we should drink before it gets cold. I still don’t know how you can not like tea by the way, Kili,” She replied, glaring playfully at him.  
“What? It tastes too frilly for me, much prefer ale, personally,” He looked over to Frodo who just giggled and clutched the small bow in his hands, his excitement hadn’t died down, then.   
“Well then next time I bring you second breakfast I’ll make sure to bring some ale with me then, shall I?” Bella handed both Kili and Frodo their sandwiches and they both wolfed them down.   
“That’d be quite good, actually,” He said around his mouthful.  
“Can I have some?” Frodo asked, eyes wide.  
“Most certainly not.”  
“Aye, why not?”   
Bella and Kili spoke to at the same time and she snorted at their opposing statements. Kili just shrugged as if to say ‘it’s not up to me’ and shoved a sandwich in his mouth whole.

They fell into a comfortable silence after that, letting Frodo babble about how much fun shooting a bow was.  
“-and Uncle Kili says someday I’ll be able to hit the middle, I can’t now...but someday!”   
“Oh, I’m sure you will, love. First Hobbit to ever be a master bowman,” Bella said kindly.   
“Of course Frodo will, next I’ll teach him swordplay. He’ll love it.” Kili said, gesturing wildly, sandwich crumbs spilling everywhere.   
“On thing at a time, Kili! You’ve yet to convince me swords aren’t just massive dangerous kitchen knives yet,” She raised an eyebrow.  
“I don’t even know what to say to that, honestly. But I do know what to do in retaliation.” Before Bella could figure out what that meant one of her lovingly crafted pastries landed right on her cheek. 

That was too much for Frodo as he collapsed with mirth, Bella tried to glare at Kili but couldn’t summon up enough ire. That Dwarf is too cute for his own good. She thought as she wiped her face with one hand, holding the remains of the pastry with the other.   
“Oh, Kili...my dear, dear Kili...you shouldn’t have done that,” Bella smirked.  
“You really shouldn’t have, Uncle!” Frodo gasped between laughs.  
“You know why? Well, Hobbits aren’t known for their prowess in battle but do you know what we are known for? Our love of food, and that includes food fights.” When she lunged at him, brandishing her pastry. 

The pastry hit its mark, namely Kili’s hair, it crumpled spectacularly and his hair was covered in crumbs and Bella beamed in triumph. He laughed uproariously for a few seconds before leveling her with a fierce look.  
“Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai-menu!” (The axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!) Bella recognised his words as both Khuzdul which she barely ever heard from him though he did use some words with Frodo and as a battlecry, she was so busy thinking about just how attractive he sounded and how un-Hobbit-ish it was to think so that she didn’t have time to dodge the tuna sandwich flying at her head.   
“Oh!” She cried out, hands flying up to her hair, “You beastly Dwarf, you!”   
“Oi! You started it, you immoral Hobbit, you.” Kili retorted, another sandwich-ham and cucumber this time-poised for attack.   
“I didn’t start it, I seem to remember that you threw the first confectionary,” She retorted smugly.  
“Are you two arguing?” Frodo cut in.   
“Nah, loud words are how Dwarves show love, you know?” He said conspiratorially.  
“Why would I know that?” The faunt giggled.   
“Well, I suppose you wouldn’t. I didn’t know Hobbits ate seven meals a day either, Mahal! I don’t know where any of you lot keep all that food...and I thought Dwarves ate a lot,” Kili grumbled.  
“Compared to Men you might, but they barely eat a thing for all that they’re unreasonably tall.”

They talked a little longer with considerably less food thrown but Frodo was far too excited to let them speak for long. Bella couldn’t find it within herself to be annoyed at him, though, he was more excited than she had seen him since before his parents died. As Frodo bounded off to where the target was Bella turned to Kili who was still sat just this side of too close to her, not that she minded.  
“Thank for doing this, Kili. You have no idea how much this means to me, not just today, either. You staying here has been the biggest help to me and I’m honestly not sure I could have taken care of Frodo by myself at the beginning,” The world grew fuzzy, great circles of colour filling her vision before she realised that she was crying.   
“Hush, don’t think about it like that. You’re my friend and I know that Men tend to call every rock and pebble their friend and I don’t know how it is with Hobbits but with Dwarves friends are rare and we take care of them,” He said solemnly.   
“Thank you. Now be off with you!” She shooed him away then, wishing she had brought her handkerchief with her.


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kili's family catch up with him as they always would, things go roughly how you'd expect.

The postal service in Hobbiton was known for its regularity and promptness so the fact that Kili received a letter one day which he honestly should have gotten at least a week before was surprising to say the least, had to be the Men in Bree’s fault. Or that’s what Kili said, anyway, as he rushed around the house muttering about his nosey family and other things in Khuzdul that Bella had a distinct feeling she didn’t want to know about.  
“I told her not to come down here! I told her!”   
“What? Kili, tell me what exactly is making you act like you’ve got a wolf on your tail,” Bella demanded eventually.  
“Me ma’s coming down, she said she was heading down to Stock and I just know she’ll find out where I am somehow. How else did the letter get here? I’d hide but she’d only find me and be more angry!” As he spoke Bella moved him over to a chair in which he sat heavily.   
“Alright. So is she...visiting?” Bella asked, brows furrowed.  
“More like invading, Fili will be coming as well which is good. I haven’t seen him in over a year and I miss ‘im, the bugger.” He looked guiltily over at Frodo who was reading a book unaware of Kili’s impassioned ranting, “Sorry, I’m not doing a good job of not corrupting young Frodo’s ears, am I?”  
“Have you heard me cooking? He’s heard worse.” She retorted good-naturedly.  
Kili giggled, “Aye, he definitely has.”   
“Feeling better?” She said as she picked up her book which she had put down during Kili’s rant and set about finding her place again.  
“Aye, she said she’d be here on the fifth, just so you know.” He said as he looked over the letter in more detail.  
“Eru! But it’s the second now!” She yelped, she’d have to make a trip to the market for this and she hated going to the market.  
“I think she sent the letter a while ago but something happened, just my luck. It’s not that I don’t love my mother, she just has an idea of what I should do with my life that I don’t agree with, you know?” Kili said, shrugging.  
“I really, really do. Don’t worry, Kili. We’ll be ready for her. Just feel lucky you don’t have a Hobbit family or you’d have twenty cousins showing up at your house with no warning whatsoever,” Bella slapped the back of Kili’s chair for emphasis which made the Dwarf chuckle.  
“Aye, you’re right. Though I can’t imagine Hobbits dueling like we do sometimes,” He replied.  
“You’re right there. We Hobbits would never do such a thing, right, Frodo?” Bella smirked.  
Frodo didn’t even look up from his book of fairytales, “Course not, we Hobbits have manners,” He said, obviously quoting someone though Bella didn’t know who.  
“Ah, I can see I’m outnumbered here. I’ll go make myself some tea, then, you want any?” Kili hadn’t known how to make tea when he first met Bella, had hated it even, and she had taken it upon herself to teach him both how to make tea and about the merits of drinking it and he had grown to love it eventually. He had failed impressively the first few times he had tried but he had a latent talent for it and had commandeered the lion’s share of the tea-making in Bag End. Eru I’ll miss him, she thought wistfully.  
“Do you even have to ask?” Bella smirked but he was already heading towards the kitchen.

The morning when Kili’s mother and brother came into Hobbiton was just like any other. The farmers went out to tend the field, people went to market, people were out smoking their pipes and tweens were out getting up to no good. A notable exception to this normality, however, was the fact that at eleven in the morning a loud knock resounded throughout Bag End, no one ever visited Bag End for one thing and no Hobbit would visit any smial at such a time as any respectable Hobbit would be having elevenses. Frodo looked up from the picture he was drawing and over to Kili who looked vaguely terrified.  
“Is that…?” Bella trailed off.  
“Most likely,” Kili replied.   
He leapt out of his seat where he had been carving some more arrows for Frodo and sprinted to the door, his boots making quite the racket against her lovely polished wood floor. Bella could hear the door opening and Frodo made to get up to see who it was but Bella hushed him and dragged him into the kitchen to give them some privacy.   
“Vemu, Amad, Nadad,” (Greetings, mum, brother.) The soft rumble of Kili speaking Khuzdul reached her ears and she desperately wished she knew what he was saying.  
“Oh hush, Kili. Don’t you try and get out of this with that face. You know I’m upset with you. and besides I know perfectly well your Hobbit is in the other room and I don’t want her to feel alienated.” A deep yet decidedly feminine voice said, “Do come out by the way, I’ve heard a lot about you.”   
“All good I hope.” Bella stuttered as she walking into the living room, “I take it you’re Kili’s mother, and you’re his brother.” 

Kili’s mother was taller than Bilbo by a great deal and wider too, though still shorter and slighter than her two sons. Her beard was the same dark black as her hair which was a few shades darker than Kili’s. Fili was shorter than Kili but wider with golden hair and beard which had two braids either side of his mouth and a moustache to match.   
“Aye, I’m his brother,” The blonde one said, sticking a thumb in the direction of an unrepentant Kili, “not that you’d know considering that he hasn’t sent me a letter in a nearly three months,” He grumbled, glaring at Kili who just put his hands up in surrender.  
“It’s not my fault, the postal system from Hobbiton to Ered Luin is shite,” Kili defended, dodging Fili’s elbow as he spoke.   
“That is no excuse and you know it, young man!” Dis scolded.   
Kili sighed, “I know, Amad. I’m sorry, I’ve just been so busy with helping Bella with Frodo-I told you about that, right? Yeah, well, it’s been pretty hectic lately and I’ve not really been thinking about home.”   
“That reminds me, when exactly will you be coming back home?” Dis questioned and Bella, seeing the scared look on his face piped up.  
“I’m terribly sorry to interrupt but we usually have elevenses around this time, would any of you like anything?”   
“Aye actually, I’m gasping for a cup of tea,” Kili replied gratefully, “I’m sure Amad and Fili are too, in fact, I’ll just go make us all some tea now.” 

And then he trotted out of the room without looking behind him. At Dis’ strange look Bella spoke up in his defence. “I know he’s wasn’t terribly good at making tea but I’ve been teaching him and he’s been making a lot of progress.”  
She just burst out laughing in response, “That’s an understatement! I’ve seen him burn water before.”  
“He did do that the first time he tried here as well,” Bella said sheepishly.   
“Sounds like my Kili alright, doesn’t it Fili?” Dis elbowed her son with a force that Bella wince in sympathy but he just grunted and didn’t fall over like she expected him to.   
“Aye, it does.” The blond said quickly, finally tearing his eyes from where they were roaming about her living room curiously, had he never seen a doily before?   
“He is making an effort though!” She defended.  
“Mahal! You two are smitten.” Fili chuckled and the Hobbit blushed right to the tips of her pointed ears.  
“Nothing’s going on between us!” She squeaked, face burning, “He feels nothing towards me, I can assure you.”   
Fili shrugged, dropping the topic immediately but Dis just gave her a sympathetic look which made her even more embarrassed. Was she really that transparent? 

Kili padded in with a pot of tea in hand a short while later and Bella listened to the three Dwarves catch up on their lives, she found out that Fili was a metalworker while Dis was a tinkerer. She also found out that they both made the trip to Stock before finding out Kili wasn’t there and going up to Hobbiton.  
“I can’t believe he didn’t send you a letter telling you where he was going, Dis,” Bella comisorated, “Kili!” She called over to the Dwarf who snapped his head up quickly, “I can’t believe you didn’t send her a letter, apologise right now.”   
“I’m sorry, Amad,” Kili said immediately.  
Both Dis and Fili just looked at Bella incredulously.   
“You got him to apologise?” Fili piped up after some seconds of just looking at her strangely. Bella didn’t know how to reply to that and Kili was starting to look uncomfortable so she just shrugged and changed the topic.   
“So, Dis, how long will you and Fili be staying here? You’re of course welcome to stay for however long you want-Yavanna knows I have enough room.”   
“Well, since I haven’t seen my son in just over a year I was thinking of staying for quite a while-that and I haven’t had a proper break from work in three years.” Dis replied pleasantly, all the while shooting Kili a dirty look.   
“You’re never going to let this go, are you?” Kili whined.  
Fili just laughed and hit him hard on the shoulder, “Nope, or not until you come back home.”   
“I don’t want to be coming back for a while.” He said, shifting slightly in his seat, “I’ve got the forge that I’m renting and work is really good there. I’m staying with Bella until she’s alright on her own but she’s my gamut-khuzsh (great friend) and I won’t abandon her.” He said seriously, glaring at his mother seemingly daring her to say something but she didn’t, just nodded thoughtfully and changed the subject yet again. 

If Bella ignored the awkward undertone of the conversation, which she did, it was a pretty successful meeting, all in all. That night once the other two Dwarves were in bed she and Kili sat outside and talked over what had happened that day.   
“I’m sorry about my mum, Bella. I didn’t know she was going to show up like that.” Kili said.   
“Shush you, it’s fine. I’m happy to have your family over,” She said comfortingly.  
“Still, it’s not fair of me to force you to host them for Mahal knows how long,” He retorted, kicking a pebble across the garden, the sound of it hitting the gate was loud in her ears.   
“It’s not fair of me to have you take care of my cousin either,” She replied.  
“But I want to!” He exclaimed forcefully.  
She just looked pointedly at him, “And I want to help you with your family too.”  
“Alright, I guess you’re right,” He said reluctantly, “I still retain the right to feel guilty, though.”

The next day was warm and light in a way it could only ever be in the Shire, white clouds rolled their lazy way along the sky outside the windows to Bag End. Bella found herself looking out of the window absentmindedly as she cooked breakfast, she was the only one awake and she revelled in it. She loved Frodo and Kili but she often longed for long days alone with only her pen and parchment for company. All the excitement of the past few months had slowed her writing schedule down to a standstill and it frustrated her. She had plenty of money but that wasn’t the point, she thought to herself as she stirred the porridge, she just missed having something productive to fill her days with.   
“Good morning, Miss Baggins,” A deep voice said from the kitchen door, she turned around to see that it was Fili. She was only disappointed for a split second.   
“Good morning! Are you feeling rested? I’m sure the journey yesterday was taxing,” Bella replied.   
“Aye, it was at that. I’m well enough, though I can’t seem to convince my legs to agree,” He chuckled.   
“Ah, I hope they start to listen to reason soon because I know for a fact that Kili will want to take you on a tour of Hobbiton. Not that he still doesn’t get lost, I’ve never known anyone with such a bad sense of direction as him,” She said as she took the porridge off of the heat, mentally calculating how long she could let Kili sleep in for as she knew he wouldn’t have gotten much sleep last night for worrying.  
She was so busy thinking that she didn’t see the half amused half pitying look Fili shot her, “You haven’t met our Uncle, then,” He said after a beat, “That Dwarf could get lost on a straight road, I swear to Mahal.”   
“Funnily enough Kili said that exact same thing to me, your Uncle must be really prolific, then.” Bella drawled.   
“That’s one way of putting it, he really does have a gift,” Fili joked.   
“Who has a gift?” Kili yawned, arms reaching for the ceiling.   
“Uncle,” Fili supplied helpfully.   
“What gift are we talking about though?” He pressed.   
“His mysterious ability to get lost when going in a straight line, you know he’s no good without his stone sense,” Fili laughed.   
“Aye, that’s certainly true enough,” he laughed.  
“Um...not to interrupt your conversation boys but breakfast is ready, could one of you go and wake up your mother?” Bella cut in.  
“I’m not waking her up!” Fili cried out.  
“Well I’m not either,” The dark-haired Dwarf retorted.   
“How about you do it together?” Bella asked.   
“We could…” Fili began.  
“But our Amad is a nasty Dwarrowdam before noon-” Kili continued.  
“And neither of us want to deal with that,” They finished together. 

It turned out that neither of them had to wake Dis up because she shuffled into the kitchen, barely acknowledging any of them. She seemed to join the world of the conscious five minutes later when she looked up from her porridge and spoke.  
“Right, well me and Fili are going to go to the market today and replace the various items of clothing that have been ruined on our journey here. We’ll leave you two âzyungâlâl (lovers) to it then.”   
With that she stood up and dragged Fili behind her by the collar, leaving behind a inexplicably pink Kili behind. Bella turned to ask him what Dis had said but the look of pure mortification on his face stopped her, she didn’t want to know if his mother was insulting them after all.  
“Well,” Bella said awkwardly, “I’d better go and wake Frodo up, Eru knows he won’t be getting up anytime soon on his own and the porridge is getting cold.”   
“Aye. Didn’t you say last night we needed more firewood? I’ll go and chop some then,” Kili replied quickly.  
“You’ll have to ask Hamwise for our axe back as I lent it to him last week, by the way, Kili,” Bella said as she started clearing up the bowls.  
“I’ll do that, and good luck waking Frodo up. Mahal knows I can’t manage it,” Kili chuckled as strode out of the kitchen, only stopping to say goodbye.   
“I’ll see you this afternoon then, Kili?” Bella called over to him and just in time as he was closing the door.  
“Aye, it won’t take me long to chop the firewood, an hour at most but I wanted to go for a walk so don’t expect me back for a while,” He replied happily.  
“You just want to go and see your brother, don’t you?” She taunted and the silence was telling. Despite their abrupt entrance into her life she found the house was much livelier for their presence and Frodo loved them which was enough for her and besides, a weight that she hadn’t even noticed Kili had been holding was lifted when they’d arrived. It was a wonderful sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is where the story starts to pick up, I hope you enjoy it! I also hope that the characters are being portrayed well. As always any comments you might have are immensely appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so...the mystery begins.

Dis and Fili turned out to a wonderful addition to Bag End if only for how happy they made Kili, though Bella couldn’t help but feel jealous at how easily Kili’s brother stole him away from her. Not that he was ever really hers to steal, of course. Frodo loved them as well which was a blessing since he hadn’t been the most social faunt and the problem was only compounded when his parents died, Fili took it upon himself to help Frodo with his swordsmanship as ‘my little shit of a brother doesn’t know his sword hilt from his right arsecheek and I wouldn’t trust him to chop a potato let alone teach a young one the art of swordplay’ which made Bella collapse into a fit of mirth much to the displeasure of the fiercely glaring Kili. 

Frodo was developing a truly un-Hobbitish love of both the sword and the bow and he took to it just like he had taken to Sindarin once Bella had managed to convince him that it was both fun and useful. He had wanted to learn Khuzdul as well and seeing his disappointed face when Kili had explained to him that Khuzdul was a secret language only for Dwarves was terrible, not to mention that it brought back memories of desperately trying to find any book on Khuzdul so she could learn and coming up empty handed. Kili had taught him the one phrase in Khuzdul non-Dwarves could learn ‘Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!’ (Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!) which he had taken to yelling loudly as he swung his wooden sword at Bella’s poor rose bush. 

Bella found herself worrying more and more about when Kili would leave, she knew he had to but the thought of it physically pained her. How she ever survived it the first time around was a mystery but she feared she might not a second, Hobbit hearts weren’t meant for separation-there was a reason families tended to live together in massive smials after all. 

The one thing Bella didn’t like about Kili’s family was the pitying looks they gave her, it wasn’t constant but sometimes she’d see Fili just look at her with such sympathy and sadness that it made her twitchy. She’d never appreciated anyone feeling sorry for her, she’d had more than enough of it during her childhood, thank you very much. So she resolutely ignored their looks and focussed more on Frodo, she used the young Hobbit as a place to put her restless energy and soon even he grew tired of her constant Sindarin lessons and general fussing. 

Even Kili noticed and pulled her aside one night to ask her what was wrong.  
“Oh, nothing, Kili. Thank you for thinking of me but I’m alright, a little under the weather but I’m fine,” She knew she was rambling but she found herself quite unable to stop.  
“If you say so,” Kili replied, furrowing his brows and raising a hand to rub at his beard absentmindedly, “though if anything happens you know you can talk to me, right?.”  
“I know!” Bella said brightly, already thinking of a way to turn the conversation around, “How have you been lately? We haven’t had that much time to talk what with me teaching Frodo and you catching up with Fili and the two of practically commandeering the forge in town, not that I mind!” She said quickly, “I’m glad that you’re making money and spending time with your brother, of course I am.”  
He just laughed at her awkwardness, “I know, Givashel (treasure), and I’m well. It’s nice to see my family after so long though they can be very...intense.”  
“That’s true but they’re very nice, all in all. Nothing like you made them out to be at all,” Bella said.  
“Aye...I may have vented my frustrations to you a little,” He replied sheepishly.  
“Maybe just a little,” She smirked, “Let’s get back to the others, I think I can hear Fili corrupting Frodo from here, he’s been trying to get Frodo to let him teach him how to use a hammer-not that I’d let him do that.”  
“Fili can barely wield a hammer himself, he’d be a terrible teacher. And I think I was lucky to convince you to let him to use a sword!” He hadn’t moved and Bella found herself not really wanting to move for the moment either.  
“Well,” She said awkwardly, “it’s helped him a great deal and I don’t regret it. Even if he will have absolutely no use for it.”  
“You never know, he could move to Ered Luin when he grows up. That can’t be more strange than having a Dwarf living in Hobbiton,” He said and Bella could hear Fili and Frodo laughing from the other room.  
“He’d probably be one of the first Hobbits to leave the Shire then, though if anyone would do it, it would be Frodo. Eru knows I wanted to leave the Shire for long time,” She rambled.  
“I have noticed Hobbits are pretty stationary,” Kili chuckled and one of his braids fell over his shoulder, “why would you want to leave the Shire, though?”  
“Oh didn’t I tell you? When I was a faunt I was very interested in the outside world, mostly because of my mother, that’s why I speak Sindarin. I used to roam the forest looking for Elves and Dwarves, never found any, well, until I found a Dwarf just lying on the road one day,” Bella joked.  
“I was like that when I was a Dwarfling too! Always wanting to know what everything was and if there more than just the mountain. I left Ered Luin on my own for the first time at sixty to go down to Bree and I never wanted to stop travelling after that. Well, not until recently, always felt like my heart was elsewhere, you know?” Kili explained and his face lit up with enthusiasm as he spoke.  
“I know, I’ve always wanted to leave too. Never got the chance to, though,” She said wistfully.  
“Why don’t you?” He asked curiously.  
“When I was younger I worried a lot about what my neighbours would think and now...well, now I have Frodo and I think I’m happy,” Bella answered just as they heard Dis say something about it being Frodo’s bedtime.  
“You think you’re happy?” Kili asked, frowning.  
But before she could answer Dis poked her head around the door.  
“Little Frodo’s been yawning near constantly for the past five minutes. The madtithbirzul (little golden heart) is trying his best to stay awake, though, says he’ll only go to bed if you two do it.”  
“Oh, well, come on then, Kili. Let’s get Frodo all tucked up, Eru knows it’s way past his bedtime,” Bella said, immensely grateful for Dis’ timing.  
“Aye,” He replied, obviously unhappy about not getting an answer but thankfully letting it go.

Frodo was just as Dis had described him, all grumpy with tiredness.  
“Come on, Turnip, let’s get you off to bed,” Bella clucked to the faunt as Kili picked him up easily.  
“Tired…” Frodo grumbled, not even noticing he’d been picked up.  
“I can see that,” She laughed before looking over to Dis, “Thanks for letting us know he was getting tired, he likes to stay up as long as he can even if it does make him as grouchy as a scarecrow in Summer.”  
“You’re welcome, I know what’s it’s like to have little ones who just don’t know what’s good for them,” She replied good-naturedly while looking at Kili and Fili pointedly.  
“Hey! We’re better now, right?” Fili complained from where he was sat writing furiously in a notebook of some sort.  
“That’s questionable…” Dis drawled, smiling as she ran her fingers through her beard.  
“Isn’t it your job to make us feel special?” Kili complained petulantly.  
“It was when you were forty but the good thing about having two sons that are past the age of maturity in years if not behaviour is I don’t have to coddle them anymore,” She retorted and Bella sniggered, Dis reminded her of her own mother fiercely and at one point that would have made her cry but now it only made her a little melancholy.

Once Frodo was in bed Bella and Kili went down to the other two Dwarves who were sat at the table, heads bent over a letter.  
“Amad? What is it?” Kili asked when they didn’t notice their approach.  
“We didn’t want to say anything while Frodo was here but we got a letter from Balin today. It’s not good news,” Fili replied somberly.  
When Kili didn’t speak Bella spoke up for him, “What does the letter say?”  
“To put it simply, there has been a lot of attacks in Ered Luin on the nobility, it’s been going on for years but it’s escalated as of late…” Dis stopped speaking then, looking pained.  
“What does that have to do with you three?” Bella asked but was completely ignored.  
“Then someone tried to assassinate Uncle Thorin,” Fili finished weakly.  
“What?” Kili shouted, making Bella jump slightly, “He’s not hurt, is he?”  
“He got some nasty cuts but Balin said it wasn’t anything too serious,” He answered, “He said it was dangerous for us to be outside of the city, especially since we don’t have guards with us. He thinks we might be the next targets.”  
“But haven’t the attacks been happening inside of Ered Luin?” Bella asked more intently, following Kili who had walked over to the table and was reading the letter, she tried to read it over his shoulder but it was written in what she assumed was Khuzdul.  
“They have but they know we’ve left for the Shire, it won’t be difficult for them to find us and that won’t be good for anyone,” Dis said, “I’m so sorry, Bella. I never intended to put you and Frodo in danger-I had no idea what would happen. Kili, we have to leave. We’re all targets and the longer we stay here the more dangerous it is.”  
Kili growled slightly, glaring at his mother, “What about Bella and Frodo, surely they’re targets too?”  
“Not if we leave soon,” Dis retorted.  
“I’m not taking that chance, if I’m going they’re coming with me. They’re my ajub’sanu baraf (Chosen family),” He said with conviction.  
Bella frowned in confusion the same she did whenever any of them spoke Khuzdul but the other two just Dwarves gaped at him, looking if possible, even more confused.  
“Are you sure?” Fili asked.  
“Do I look unsure?” He countered.  
The two brothers looked poised to have an argument so Bella cut in, “Wait, wait, wait. What exactly is going on? You’re nobility?”  
Kili looked embarrassed, “Yes...we’re royalty. My uncle is the King of the Blue Mountains.”  
Bella gaped at him, heart pounding, “You said he was just a blacksmith.”  
“He is,” Kili looked imploringly at her, “he is also king.”  
“I...we’re going to talk about this, Kili. I can’t believe you’d keep that from me.”  
Kili for his part looked like he was about to cry but just nodded. Fíli coughed awkwardly and looked over to Dis who just looked back at Bella. She sighed, it seemed she’d have to speak again.  
“If Frodo isn’t safe I need to know.”  
“Of course, Bella, but in all honesty we don’t know,” Fili said, scratching his beard nervously, “They could know about you or they could have no idea.”  
“I’m not taking any chances with Frodo, Fili,” She said fiercely.  
“We wouldn’t expect anything less, Bella. But what if it’s all for naught? Can you leave the Shire and make the trip to Ered Luin only to find out you didn’t need to?” Dis asked.  
“Well, that’s better than being killed, isn’t it?” She replied sarcastically.  
“The road to Ered Luin is dangerous and with only the five of us it’ll be even more so,” Kili finally said, putting the letter down, “Also, when were you going to tell us that we had to leave by next week?”  
“We were getting around to it,” Fili grumbled even as Bella shot him a glare.  
“Alright, shut up the both of you!” Dis shouted, effectively stopping any potential argument between the brothers right then and there, “We have a lot to sort out before dawn.”  
“Let’s get to it, then,” Bella said and they did.

The next few days were overtaken by planning by the three Dwarves, leaving Bella to break the news to Frodo who took it well for all the wrong reasons.  
“You’re not happy here, are you, Auntie? In the Shire,” He said to her one day after they had finished going over the colours in Sindarin.  
She wanted to lie but found herself unable to when she looked in those blue eyes, “I’m not. But that doesn’t matter here, you do. Once we’re safe we’re going back to the Shire-it’s where you’ll get your best childhood.”  
“How? No one here likes me,” He said sullenly.  
“That’s not true! Kili and I do,” Bella exclaimed.  
“Exactly,” Frodo muttered, “You’re my family and you said Uncle Kili won’t stay in the Shire so we’ve got to go with Uncle Kili, right?”  
“If only it were that easy…” Bella sighed, “Kili probably doesn’t want us following him around. We can hardly live with him once he had his own wife and children.”  
“It’d work out if you were Uncle Kili’s wife! Then we could stay together, it could be you and me and Uncle Kili and Uncle Fili and Nana Dis,” As he spoke Bella realised just how close the five of them were, if Frodo was referring to Dis and Fili and Nana and Uncle respectively.  
“You know how Dwarves have Ones, Frodo?” He nodded slowly in understanding, “Well I’m sure he’s waiting for his.”  
“Ok, Auntie. Maybe I can convince Uncle Kili that you’re his One,” Frodo said brightly.  
“That’s not something you can convince someone to feel, they just do.” Bella said wistfully, changing the subject before she cried.


	8. Chapter Eight

For a Hobbit leaving Hobbiton is one of the most stigmatised and generally un-Hobbitish things anyone can do. Bella knew all that but the nasty comments and vicious looks still shocked her as the five of them made their way out of Hobbiton. The weather was nice which was something, even if the blue sky and pleasant breeze didn’t stop the scornful farmers lining the road staring at them obnoxiously. 

The fact that they were riding ponies made the spectacle that much more unique, how Dis got hold of the ponies Bella would never know but however she managed it, it meant that Bella was hanging on for dear life while Frodo rode quite happily on Dis’ pony beside her. Bella was gripping Frodo’s hand tightly, trying to a keep him calm but her own composure was slipping. It was then that Kili pulled his pony closer to hers and grabbed her hand, it jolt of contact soon faded into a calm sensation a lot like the feeling you get when collapse onto your bed after a very long day.   
“Kili!” She hissed, “It’s not proper.”  
“Do you really care about what’s proper, Bella?” Kili retorted slyly.   
She coughed slightly, “Well...not really. They’ll have forgotten about it by the time we come back.”  
“Aye...when you come back,” He agreed, suddenly finding the blackberry bushes lining the road very interesting.   
“How long will we be gone, Uncle?” Frodo piped up, letting go of her hand. The lone hand in her own felt that much more intense.   
“Ah, we don’t really know. It might be quite some time unfortunately. Fili! Do you know how long we’ll be gone for, Nadad?” He shouted over to the blond who pulled himself around until he was sat sidesaddle.   
“Balin said he thought it would be a couple of months. So probably somewhere between two months and a year,” He replied.   
“A year?!” Bella sputtered as Frodo cheered.  
“You have to remember that we have no idea who’s behind the attacks or what they want so no one knows how long it’ll take,” Dis explained while she consulted her coin purse, “On an unrelated note we’ll be staying in the Prancing Pony tonight so we won’t have to rough it just yet.”   
“So we have enough money after all?” Kili teased.  
“We do, though don’t expect anything fancy,” She retorted.   
“It is the Prancing Pony, I don’t think there’s one fancy thing in the entire establishment,” Bella laughed and her pony reared up at the sound, “Oh bother!”   
Kili laughed so hard he nearly fell off his pony who irritatingly enough didn’t rear up at the din. 

The day passed leisurely though not without toil. Frodo still treated their journey like an extended walk around the fields and boosted their spirits and annoyed them terribly in turn with his excited antics.   
“I remember when you two were like that,” Dis commented mournfully as Frodo was swinging from a tree, whooping loudly as he did so.   
Kili put down the bread he was holding and glared, “We were never that bad.”  
“I think we might have been, Kee…” The blond giggled, earning himself a punch from his brother.   
“We were not!” He pouted.   
“I think I’m inclined to believe your mother and brother on this, Kili,” Bella teased, flashing him a grin.   
“Hobbits!” He huffed, “No loyalty at all.”  
“Oh, and Dwarves are so loyal, are they?” She countered playfully.   
“Of course we are, Bella. It’s how Mahal made us,” Kili said.   
“I stand wildly and utter corrected, then. And I saw your hand go for that pie! Don’t even think about it!” She cried out, reaching for her own baked weapon.

They were about to begin battle when Dis swooped in and plucked Kili’s pie and Bella’s pastie out of their hands.  
“Right. No fighting-we don’t have enough food as it is without you two wasting it all,” She scolded.  
“Aww, I think you spoiled their flirting, Amad,” Fili sniggered before he tipped his head back in unrestrained laughter.   
“They’ll get over it,” Dis replied, tactfully ignoring the scuffling of her two sons as she sat herself back down on the grass.

The rest of their lunch went well and with surprisingly little food being thrown and they soon saw Bree in the distance once they’d begin riding again. Frodo, having never left Hobbiton, was nearly faint with excitement and his energy rubbed off on the rest of them and they found themselves practically vibrating on their ponies at the promise of a nice ale and a good long rest. 

The ale didn’t quite meet up to their expectations but the beds most certainly did. Bella, Dis and Frodo shared one room while Fili and Kili took another. They used their time in Bree to stock up and to also buy some the more serious travel items that couldn’t be found for love nor money in Hobbiton.

Bella hadn’t been any further than Bree in her thirty-three years and she had to admit that when they stepped out of Bree and onto the East-West Road a certain sense of melancholic yet utterly thrilling adventure took over her. If Bella was affected by the spirit of adventure then Frodo was consumed by it and was utterly insufferable for the next twenty minutes before the monotony of pony riding calmed him down.   
“When’s tea, Auntie?” He asked just as Bella had settled into some nice peace and quiet.   
“No idea, ask Dis,” She grumbled, casting a tired look over to Kili who just nodded in solidarity.   
“Nana! When’s tea?” Frodo called over to Dis who, without turning around, tossed him a pie which he barely managed to catch.  
“That’s your tea, we’re not leaving our saddles today, we lost a lot of time wondering around Bree and if we want to make it up to the Weather Hills by tonight we’ll need to keep our pace fast,” She replied. “Speaking of...Fili! How are we looking?”  
“I’m fairly sure we’ll make it but then again what with the fact we’re riding with a young one-”  
“I’m not young!” Frodo complained as he munched on his pie.   
“It’s slowing our pace down a great deal.” Fili continued, completely ignoring Frodo.  
“That’s understandable but we still need to keep a fast pace,” Dis looked to see whether Frodo was paying attention before speaking to the rest of them, “we don’t know where they are and because of that there is a very real threat at our backs.”   
Bella nodded, swallowing heavily, “I understand. Still, I trust that we’re keeping him as safe as possible.”  
“Of course we are, Bella,” Kili said fiercely, squeezing her shoulder with a large hand.  
“Ok,” She replied simply, forcing her body not to lean into the contact.

They rode on for a long time and as the sun set behind the hills Bella realised she wasn’t in the Shire anymore. She had known that before, of course, but it hadn’t occurred to her until she saw brown, dried grass and leafless trees that she truly knew. The Shire never looked like that, not even in Autumn, but this was Spring and the land shouldn’t have looked like that. Not unless it was left untended and no part of the Shire was ever untended. Whether you believed that was because of the diligence of Hobbits or because of the grace of Yavanna is debated but the fact remained that Bella had never seen anything so desolate in her life. Frodo didn’t notice it, of course, as he had fallen asleep but she could swear that he stirred and writhed in his dreams.

When they did make camp it was much later than anyone but Dis would have preferred, but then again that Dwarrowdam was determined enough to march the entire way to Ered Luin without stop. After eating heartily they lay down for the night with Fili as watch. Bella had wanted to speak to Kili alone but had never gotten the chance and it was looking like she wouldn’t get that chance for a good long while yet. As Bella was falling asleep she thought to herself that there was an odd lack of birdsong.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a bit dangerous.

Getting woken up by the sounds of shouting had alway brought Bella right back to her childhood and the time she had fallen asleep in a tree while on the lookout for Dwarves. When she hadn’t been back by suppertime her parents had asked around all the neighbouring smials and none of them had seen her and they got together a search party to go looking for her, fearing the worst. 

They hadn’t found her as such, more that their shouting had woken her up and she had fallen out of the tree she was napping in, nearly breaking her arm in the process. Her parents had been so happy to see her that they had quite forgotten to be angry with her until the next day when she had to go to everyone who had helped look for her and apologise for wasting their time. That feeling of waking up with heart pounding and scared screams in her ears woke her up again.  
“Bandits!” Kili screamed and Bella bolted upright, looking wildly for Frodo who was being held close to Dis’ chest. Kili then turned to Bella and she could see the whites of his eyes even in the low light, “Run!”

So she did. She took Frodo from Dis and sprinted into the woods that lay nearby, not stopping until her lungs burnt and the sounds of Frodo’s terrified questions drowned out her own pounding heart. The awful sound of a fight could be heard behind her and she had the urge to cover Frodo’s ears though the damage had already been done. 

The sounds of the woods surrounded her after a while and she tried to calm herself down. One snapped twig, though, and a large and dirty hand clamped over her mouth.   
“Are ye gonna be good, then?” The voice was rough like he had smoked a pipe for years and his breath solidified her theory. Frodo screamed but the man brought out a knife and pressed it to Bella’s throat and even at ten he knew to be quiet, “Now are you gonna be good?”  
Bella nodded and Frodo sniffled; that seemed to be a good enough answer for the Man and the two of them were forced out of the woods and to where the fight had been taking place, where they had been sleeping. 

The bandits who had attacked them were all dead, or Bella assumed they were, and the three Dwarves were just congratulating themselves on their victory when the Man who was still holding a knife to her neck coughed to get their attention and everything froze.   
“No…” Kili breathed and Fili slammed a hand onto his shoulder to stop him bolting towards them.   
“I take it you lot know each other, then? Shouldn’t be surprised, you little folk would end up hanging around each other, wouldn’t you?” The Man who Bella still hadn’t seen the face of had a horrible habit of speaking in questions and it was really rather annoying, it didn’t compare to the knife, though. No one answered his question but the three of them settled into wider stances that Bella recognised were for battle. 

Bella’s captor and his companions had obviously miscalculated the situation so when the Man looked around and saw that none of his friends were there and he was outnumbered he changed his tune very quickly indeed. He hit Bella with the butt of his knife and tossed them away from him before sprinting off into the woods. Thankfully Frodo didn’t scrape along the ground and hurt himself but that just meant that Bella had, the pain of it combined with the shock of what just happened sent her into a flood of tears along with Frodo who hadn’t stopped crying wordlessly since the Bella had ran with him away from the bandits. Dis swooped her up into her cloak and Fili took Frodo out of her shaking arms.   
“Shhh, love-it’s always scary at first,” Dis cooed and Bella wasn’t sure who she was talking to.   
“I-I’m s-sorry, I shouldn’t be acting like this! Not with Frodo h-here,” Bella sobbed as her vision blurred into circles of colour.   
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of at all, you did very well and kept Frodo safe,” She then lowered her voice to a murmur only the two of them could hear, “I think my Kili is feeling a bit...emotional about the whole thing-I think you two need to talk.”   
“Ok...if you say so,” She replied, fighting a pitiable sob.   
“I most certainly do say so, it’d better be sooner rather than later. But with that way he’s looking at us I think he might be the one to start this particular conversation. Though don’t expect it, that boy is thick as a rock and never has the conversations he needs to until he absolutely has to,” With that Dis left Bella on her own to go a gather everything up. She looked up at the trees for a moment before the sound of Kili’s boots took her attention. 

When Bella turned around she saw his face and recoiled inwardly, he looked awful. A bruise was blossoming across his face, nearly black in the light but his expression was far worse. She didn’t have to hear him speak to know he needed to talk to her so she got up slowly and walked off and away from the rest of them, gesturing for Kili to follow her. She led them a good fifteen metres away before she spoke and when she did Kili didn’t seem to have been expecting it as he flinched hard.  
“Kili, how are you doing? I know this would have been scary for you, Eru knows it was scary for me,” She said comfortingly, reaching a hand up to his shoulder but he took a step backwards to avoid it.   
“Please don’t.” He rasped.   
“What? What on Arda are you talking about?” Bella asked, frowning in confusion.   
“What do you think? I nearly got you and Frodo killed!” Kili cried out, flailing his hands about wildly.  
“None of this is your fault, Kili. None of us could have known they’d show up,” She said, hoping against hope that reason would calm him down.   
It didn’t.  
“It’s my fault you two are here! If I hadn’t-”   
“If you hadn’t what? Let me help you?” She retorted, growing angry herself.   
“Yes!” He shouted and the rest of the group looked over to them before Dis scolded them for being rude.   
“Now you’re being ridiculous. I have never regretted helping you for a second, not even now. Especially now. I love you, Frodo loves you! We’re here with you because we love you,” Bella replied, glaring at him.  
“I…” Kili trailed off, face oddly blank, “you...love me?”   
Bella laughed, the leftover adrenaline making her feel vicious, “You didn’t know? Frodo adores you, of course. But you didn’t know how much I care about you?” Kili’s mouth slipped ajar but he remained silent and just stared at her. Bella blushed as she started to realise just how rude she had been and was about to apologise when he spoke:  
“I love you too, Bella. I’ve loved you for a long time and it’s just been sitting inside of my chest waiting to escape and I can’t keep it in any longer.”   
Bella wanted to say lot of words at that moment, wanted to employ all of her writing skills to express how she was feeling at the moment but all that came out was, “Good. I’m glad we’re in agreement then.”   
Though arguably the one thing Bella had wanted to happen for nearly a year had happened it didn’t feel real, she just walked back with Kili to where the rest of them were. 

Frodo had stopped crying by then and was sat listening to Fili regale him about the first time he had been attacked by bandits. No one paid them any mind except for Dis who gave her a knowing look. Only Frodo slept again that night and instead the rest of the group waited until the sun rose and then rode on to Rivendell. 

Bella had to convince Dis to let them stop off in Rivendell, citing the fact that Frodo was a growing Hobbit and as such was eating through a lot of their food reserves.   
“I still don’t like it,” Dis grumbled for the fifth time.   
“Yes, but you have to understand that we need the food and the Elves of Rivendell are wonderful hosts,” Bella replied, feeling oddly like she was speaking to Frodo.   
“The Elves haven’t been ‘good hosts’ to Dwarves for a long time, Bella. There’s bad blood there and I don’t trust it,” Her voice was clipped and Bella turned away from her and looked at the bushes that were passing by under her pony’s feet. 

Rivendell was just as beautiful as Bella’s mother had told her it was and even the sceptical scoffing of the three Dwarves wasn’t enough to put her off. As they walked into Rivendell they were greeted by the guards and once Bella had explained their situation they were escorted into the dining hall and furnished with food whist their food stocks were refilled.   
“There’s no meat in this food,” Kili hissed, looking scandalised.   
“Of course not,” Bella said in reply, “They’re vegetarian.” Kili just looked confused, “It means they don’t eat meat.”  
“Oh...Khuzdul doesn’t have a word for that and I was never taught the Westeron and for good reason. No wonder they’re so willowy and insubstantial,” He grumbled and Bella looked over to the Elves sat at the table adjacent to theirs who turned to glare at them before going back to their subdued conversations.   
“Alright then, Kili,” She chuckled, looking away. The awkwardness that had started once they had confessed their feelings to each other hadn’t left but neither of them were keen on addressing it either. 

Bella and Frodo’s powers of manipulation combined managed to persuade Dis to let them stay the night and Bella took the chance to walk around the gardens of Rivendell which her mother had said were famed throughout Arda for their beauty unlike their Elven cousins in Mirkwood whose forest had been corrupted beyond recognition of its former state as Greenwood. 

Once the rest of them had gone to sleep Bella woke Kili up and pulled him away for a long overdue talk.   
“What’s been going on with you, Kili? You haven’t been acting like yourself,” As she spoke she looked out of the window and onto the moonlit gardens.   
Kili’s face shifted from expression to expression for a few seconds before he settled on looking tired, “I know. I just-everything’s been so intense and I haven’t had the time to talk about everything I should. I haven’t been treating you half as well as I should either.”   
“Oh hush, you. That is not true in the slightest!” She scolded, hitting him lightly on the shoulder.  
“I haven’t though…” He sighed, not meeting her gaze, “I love you and yet you’re out here instead of where you should be.”  
Bella frowned and put her hands akimbo in annoyance, “Yavanna you sound like my Grandmother! I want to be here with you. I know this isn’t the best of circumstances but I would have gone with you regardless. You’re home for me, Kili. Frodo too. You have to know that by now.”   
The words had been a long time in the making and it felt brilliant to let them out. 

Kili’s eyes had a tell-tale glint but that wasn’t what Bella was thinking about as he suddenly leant down and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. It wasn’t like what she had read about in novels, not the life-altering explosions of emotionally charged pleasure but just a pleasant tingling that spread down her spine. His beard rubbed against her face and she stifled a giggle even as she stood on tiptoes and pressed back against him. Once they untangled their arms and lips they just looked at each other for a second.  
“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to do that, Bella,” He panted, cheeks flushed.   
“I think I might have an idea…” She replied with a smirk, “Come on! We’ve been out here long enough and we’ve got an early start tomorrow.”  
“Good point. But I need to ask you something first…” Kili paused, raising a hand awkwardly to his neck, “are we together now? Because I can’t really handle doing this,” He gestured between the two of them, “without us courting. I know I haven’t given you half as much as you deserve but I’d spend my entire life rectifying that if that was what it took.”   
“Stop being so soppy, love.” Bella said, elbowing him gently for emphasis, “Consider me thoroughly wooed, though if there are any Dwarven traditions you’d like us to do I’d be happy to. We’ve done the Hobbitish ones for the most part.”   
“For the most part?” He asked.   
“Well, all you really need to do is give each other a handmade gift which you’ve already done, one of them gives the other food which I’ve certainly done and then we go a walk together and I’d say this whole trip from the Shire to the Blue Mountains is one long walk. The last thing would be to ask my parents but that’s not going to happen and you know I can barely stand any of my other relatives.” She explained.   
“Dwarven courting traditions are a little more complicated than that but since we’ve known each other nearly a year I think we can skip most of it,” Kili smirked as they made their way back down to where they were sleeping.   
“Well, I’ve told you about Hobbit courting traditions, what about Dwarven ones?” Bella asked.   
“It starts out very complicated but gets simpler as the two get to know each other better but it’s mostly just about proving your love by giving your intended handmade things. It begins at asking them to court by giving them a bead you made yourself and ends with you putting a braid into their hair and another bead or clasp or something like that,” Bella realised he was blushing terribly and her own cheeks felt hot also, there was something that felt a bit risque about what he was saying somehow. Then the realisation hit her.   
“But you gave me a bead! When you left for Stock you gave me a bead! Don’t tell me you were...you were, weren’t you? You absolute sneak, you! You’re lucky I love you or I’d be pretty angry with you right now,” She pouted, glaring up at him.   
“I guess I just wanted to...acknowledge my feelings without telling you. All the bead means is that a suitor is trying for your affections, it wouldn’t even stop another Dwarf from trying something. Though if they recognised who the bead was made by they’d probably think twice,” Kili explained, chuckling.   
“Well...I guess I can forgive you, then. I still don’t get why you weren’t honest with me from the beginning though,” She replied.   
“I didn’t feel worthy of you, I still don’t in all honesty but I realise now that as long as we both want to be together it doesn’t matter,” He said as they approached the door to their room.  
“Honestly, I’ll never understand why you feel that way but I have my entire life to convince you otherwise,” Bella said as she opened the door. Fili, Dis and Frodo were happily asleep; Fili was sprawled diagonally across his sleeping mat, mouth half open, Dis was curled into a tight ball with dagger in hand and Frodo hidden under a pile of blankets, “We’re back on the road tomorrow, Kili. Promise me you won’t forget about this.”  
The Dwarf just laughed in response, “I could never forget, I’d sooner forget my own face but I promise, if the makes you feel better.”   
“Eru!” Bella hissed, giggling, “You’re incorrigible. Come on, let’s get some sleep. We’ll be up early tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh! We're getting closer to the end of my pre-written stuff, I’ve written another two chapters since posting this but I fear but updates will decrease in frequency because of dumb stuff like work, college and pure laziness. 
> 
> Regardless, I hope everyone has been enjoying and all of these comments I’ve bedn getting have really made my entire week, honestly. I just want for my writing to be enjoyed by people so this is wonderful for me. Thank you for sticking with me thus far and I endeavour to make that faith worth it.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They travel some more and they finally see Ered Luin (kind of)

Bella was right about needing sleep as Dis woke them up before the sun had risen, she managed to get everyone up and ready within half an hour, even Frodo who had made it his mission the night before to burrow so far into his blankets that he could never be recovered.

As Bella left Rivendell she left oddly melancholy and she had wished she’d been able to speak to the Elves beyond simple greetings, though that feeling wasn’t reflected at all my her companions, the Dwarves being more than happy to leave Rivendell behind them forever and Frodo being far too excited to be sad for long. The ponies were in high spirits also which made it nearly impossible for Bella to stop her pony from taking detours from the road in favour of eating berries from the bushes lining the path much to her chagrin.

The sun shone down on them pleasantly and she found herself settling into a contented stupor on her pony, thinking about what had happened last night. She couldn’t believe it and she often had to look over to Kili and see the stupid grin on his face to convince herself it hadn’t been a particularly fanciful dream. Kili would regularly look over to her and the look on his face made her blush which was soon picked up on by Dis.   
“What are you two giggling about?”   
“Nothing!” Kili pouted, “We didn’t even make a sound.”   
“You didn’t have to,” she slipped into Khuzdul which Bella had stopped being annoyed by, “You’re being as obvious as a boulder right now, son.” She replied before winking at Bella.   
“Stop it! You’re embarrassing me!” He whined replying in Khuzdul.  
“Auntie Bella?” Frodo said from behind her and she turned to look at the faunt who was sharing a pony with a smirking Fili, “What do you think they’re saying? I only picked up the words you and son.”  
“I think you’d be better off asking Fili that,” She replied.   
“Uncle Fili? What are they talking about?” He asked.  
The blonde Dwarf just laughed, “Nothing interesting, just the usual family conversation. I’m surprised you’ve picked up that much Khuzdul, I suppose since no one taught you there’s no harm in it...”   
“There’s never anything usual about your family conversation!” Bella said, laughing. Wanting Fíli to stop the Khuzdul conversation lest he stop Frodo from picking up words as Bella was going to ask him what he knew at the very next opportunity.   
“You’ve got a point there. Still, I don’t think Kili would want me airing out his laundry for him,” Fili said, urging his pony to a canter in order to catch up with his mother, “I’ll see if I can convince her to let us stop for lunch soon.” 

Fili didn’t manage to convince her to stop for lunch so much as slow down enough to shove some bread and butter into their hungry mouths which Bella was grateful for, even if it only stopped Frodo from talking non-stop. In truth she was happy that Frodo was so excited, he’d been so quiet when he’d first come to live with her that she had feared that she’d never be able to develop any sort of meaningful relationship with him again. Kili had been the one to sit her down and comfort her, saying that he probably just needed some time and that he’d soon open up which he did. They did stop come evening though and all of them were glad for the rest. The food provisions were still good though Dis warned that they wouldn’t remain so as they made the last leg of their journey to Ered Luin. 

Hobbits and mountain travelling don’t mix Bella learnt very quickly, the frigid air cut into her cheeks and they had to get off of the ponies at regular intervals to guide them up the perilously uneven path. The frost cut into her feet, the cloak Fili had given her to wear was chafing terribly and Frodo hadn’t stopped shivering for the past hour.   
“When are we going to get up camp for the night?” Bella asked eventually.  
“We won’t,” Fili replied.  
“What he means is that we shouldn’t have to because Ered Luin is only another two hours from here,” Dis explained.   
“Oh...well let’s hope it doesn’t get much colder than it is now,” She said, frowning.  
“It’s g-gonna get c-colder?” Frodo shrieked through chattering teeth.  
“No it won’t, Frodo,” Kili cut in before the faunt could carry on, placing a hand on his comfortingly, “Mahal! You’re freezing!” He slipped in Khuzdul, “Amad, Frodo needs another blanket. Now.”  
Dis looked over to Frodo for a second before nodding and reaching into one of the copiously large bags sitting on the adjacent pony’s saddle. After a good thirty seconds of rummaging she pulled out a large woolen blanket the colour of wet earth and tossed it to Kili who caught it easily.   
“Here you go, irakdashat (nephew). Keep warm.” With that Kili wrapped the blanket tightly around Frodo's shoulders. Bella caught Dis and Fili giving each other a significant look and she found herself wishing she knew what they were thinking in that moment. It would certainly tell her whether announcing her and Kili’s development in their relationship would be a good idea or not. 

The weather got slowly but surely more extreme as the day faded into evening and Bella eventually managed to convince Dis to stop for the night.  
“I don’t understand how anyone other than a Dwarf can get anything done with their ‘sensitive constitutions’...” She grumbled as Fili bent over what would hopefully be the campfire and Bella put out all the bedrolls for the night. Kili was comforting Frodo who had started to cry due to the cold, every three or so seconds he’d sent a pleading look over to Bella for help who would just stare back sympathetically and continued to put out the bedrolls. 

Once everything had been set up and the fire had been lit they all sat around rubbing the feeling back into their legs and chatting, the wind having been far too loud for any sort of extended conversation as they were riding. Frodo had fallen asleep and so Bella and Kili finally had some semblance of alone time. They had been talking for a while but Bella had a question she wanted to ask.  
“What’s Ered Luin like? Dis has described it to me but I want to know what it was like for you,” Bella asked, leaning against him slightly as they watched blizzard rage on outside their cave, the snores of their companions in the background.  
“I don’t know how useful my opinion would since I couldn’t wait to get out of there as soon as I could,” He replied bashfully.   
“I want to know more about your mind, Kili,” She countered, smiling warmly at him.  
Kili looked thoughtful a moment before speaking, “Ered Luin is beautiful, everywhere you look is some triumph of architecture or decoration or art. There’s so much to see and do and the Dwarves make the city almost seem like a living, breathing beast. The forges rumble away all the time and the stone beneath you sings. Being above ground doesn’t really compare at all. Do you remember when you told me about how Hobbits could feel the crops growing in the fields and that the Shire protects you?” Bella nodded, enthralled, “It’s the same for us. People think we’re harsh or crass but we’re not, we see the beauty in the earth in ways that go beyond just fine jewelry or money.”  
“Wow, Kili...that was beautiful. But why did you leave?” She asked breathlessly.   
“I just woke up one day and found that there was nothing for me anymore. Sure there was work and friends and family but not what I needed, what I needed was far away from me, always far away from me,” He answered.   
“Needed? So you’ve found it, then?” The blizzard was beginning to die down.  
“Aye,” Then, at seeing the look on her face, “I’ll tell you one day.”  
The curiosity was overwhelming but Bella forced herself to let it go. Kili was entitled to his secrets just as she was. When they went back to their respective sleeping mats Bella felt an odd sense of loss, she had been sitting close to Kili for the past half an hour and she felt the loss of his warmth and presence keenly. It was a long while before she actually fell asleep, the sounds of rustling blankets and snores keeping her alert long after the blizzard faded away. 

When morning did slowly arrive Bella was awoken by the sound of clanging pots and cursing.  
“Mahal! Fili!” Bella heard Dis yell even as she buried her head further under her blanket, the biting cold air not tempting her out in the least, “Why did you pack our pots like that? It was an accident waiting to happen clearly.”  
“I’m sorry, Amad.” Fili called back, then, “What are we having for breakfast?”  
“Yeah, what are we having?” Frodo said.  
“I’m surrounded by ungrateful men,” Dis muttered, “Bella! I know you’re awake, care to help me with breakfast?”  
“Of course,” She said as she dragged herself out from under her blankets. 

Dis handed her a knife and told her peal some potatoes which Bella did happily, taking the opportunity to watch Kili who was still sleeping. By the time she was halfway through Kili was starting to stir and as Bella tossed the diced potatoes into the bubbling pot he’d gotten out of his bedroll and was sat up and looking around blearily.   
“Ah, so you’ve finally woken up,” Fili called over to him sarcastically from where he was sharpening his knives in the corner. Frodo was watching the repetitive movements of the knife against the grindstone with rapt attention, at one point that would have worried Bella but now she was just thankful that Frodo was being quiet.

Breakfast consisted of the diced potatoes leftover from a few days ago and a rabbit that Kili had caught the previous evening. Both Bella and Frodo exchanged looks at the small portions but none of the Dwarfs noticed. The energy was decidedly low and no one wanted to be the first to start packing up and heading toward Ered Luin. Eventually it was Bella who sighed and picked up her pack to get everything ready, soon followed by Fili and then Dis. 

Bella felt like she was practically dragging the rest of the group behind her as she strode along the rocky mountain path. She listened to the sounds of her feet hitting the ground and the chatter of the two brothers teasing each other as they woke up properly. Wind whipped through her hair and across her reddening cheeks, Bella looked over her shoulder at Kili, not even trying to be sneaky at this point. Their relationship was now in this odd in between place that she’d only really ever seen from afar at parties, it had never been anything she’d wanted for herself but now that she found herself experiencing that it was a comforting fluttering in her chest.   
“Morning, Bella!” Kili called over to her as they made eye contact and her chest contracted for a second. Seemingly done with horsing around with his brother he caught up with her easily to walk beside her.  
“Morning,” She greeted brightly, quickening her step to keep up with his longer stride, “Not too long until we reach Ered Luin, are you excited?”  
He seemed to consider her question for a moment as he cocked his head to the side, “Of course I’m happy to be going back and to see how the city has changed in the time I’ve been gone. I wouldn’t call it excited though, given the circumstances,” Bella blushed, remembering just how serious the situation was.   
Kili elbowed her lightly, bring her attention back to him, “Thank you for dropping everything to come with me. It’s funny how you’re constantly doing things for me and I never seem to return the favour.”  
“Hush you, it was never a burden to share in your hardships. It’s what...friends do,” The word choice felt off to her but they still hadn’t talked anything out properly.   
He nodded and looked back behind at where Fili was giving a still exhausted Frodo a piggyback and chuckled, “I haven’t seen my brother this happy in a long time, the pressures of being next in line to the throne have taken their toll.”   
“I can only imagine how difficult that must be...even taking over my father’s smial was almost too much for me. I can’t imagine a whole kingdom,” She said in earnest, looking over to Kili who was doubled over with laughter. She frowned, “What? What is it?”   
“You have no idea how funny you are, do you?” He wheezed. 

Fili jogged over to them, Frodo still perched on his back.   
“Why are you murdering my brother?” He giggled.   
“Who’s murdering who?” Frodo asked blearily, unfocused eyes shifting between each of them without really settling on any of them.   
“Nothing, love. These two are just being idiots as always,” Bella reassured him, he just nodded and went back to sleep. 

They carried on their walk down the long and winding path, barely pausing at all, except to let Dis look at some sign or other and direct them on which way to go. The two brothers knew their way well enough too but let their mother lead the party, taking it as an opportunity to see who could spot a cloud that looked the most like an axe. Fili seemed to be winning when Ered Luin crested over the mountains. Bella gasped and stumbled, not taking her eyes off of it for a second. She hadn’t seen anything like it before it her life. Her mother’s stories of what the Dwarves had told her about their city couldn’t begin to compare to the real thing, even if that real thing looked to be about five miles away. 

As they drew closer and the Dwarves grew silent and retreated into their thoughts Bella found herself becoming more and more nervous about just what was waiting for them behind those enormous stone gates. Fili put Frodo down after a while and the young Hobbit rushed off ahead of them excitedly, only looking back briefly to make sure he hadn’t lost them. 

The rest of the walk went by peacefully and as they all began to properly wake up conversation sparked between them. Dis and Bella were exchanging recipe ideas animatedly, the difference between Dwarven and Hobbitish recipes were interesting to say the least. She wasn’t paying too much attention to the two brothers even though Kili hadn’t left her mind. While their courting had effectively been put on hold for the moment something told her that their newfound relationship would be tested within those city walls.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally reach Ered Luin and it is simultaneously everything and nothing that Bella expected.

When they did reach the gates, nearly an hour later Bella looked up at the turrets resting at the top and hoped someone would show their face, she couldn’t exactly knock after all. Kili walked purposefully over one side of massive gates and pulled a chain that she hadn’t noticed was there. A loud gong sounded and a small door within the gates opened.  
“Well that was anticlimactic,” Frodo murmured.   
Bella snorted and was about to reply when a stout Dwarf stepped out of the door and slapped his chest with his arm. He said something in Khuzdul before looking over to Bella and Frodo and switching to Common, “I was informed that you would be arriving, your royal highnesses. I will go and fetch Chancellor Balin immediately and bring him to The Mithril Axe where he said he would meet with you. Feel free to enter at your leisure.”   
Bella and Frodo looked at each other, unused to having people act like that around them even if it wasn’t directed at them.  
“Alright then, let’s get going. If I’m reading the sun right-which I probably am-then it’s about one and Balin should just be finishing up his daily meeting now so it shouldn’t take too long for him to arrive.” Dis grunted as she picked up a large rucksack containing all the pots and pans they had brought with them on their trip which amounted to less than Bella wanted but more than Dis felt alright with taking on a trip that takes five days at the absolute most. 

As they walked through the gates and into Ered Luin Bella found herself gasping again. She had read about Ered Luin of course but words could never convey the atmosphere, the hustle and bustle, all the smells of metal and food wafting through the air, the sounds of the Khuzdul chatter. Frodo seemed even more awed by it than Bella was while their Dwarves just looked fondly at them and set off walking up the massive cobbled road and towards the rows and rows of shops that were carved into the mountainside. Bella found herself looking at the shopfronts and trying to figure out what they could possibly be selling. Fili and Kili seemed to know where they were going as they practically bounded over to one of the buildings which Bella rightly assumed was The Mithril Axe, mostly due to the axe on the sign.   
“I’m sure Kili missed that pub more than his own mother,” Dis said to Bella laughing as they strolled behind them.   
“He does strike me as that type, now that I think about it. I’m sure he missed my cooking more than me when he was in Stock,” She replied, looking fondly at Kili.   
“Hmmm, I wouldn’t be so sure,” Dis replied and Bella just blushed and dropped the conversation.

Once they reached the pub they found Fili and Kili already in there making very good progress on their second beers. Bella pulled Frodo tight to her side as she had a strong feeling that if she let him out of her sight for even a moment that he’d get into trouble. It didn’t take long for Balin to arrive and Bella didn’t know whether she had expected him to look how he did or not. He had looked exactly how she’d imagined Dwarves to look when she was a child, massive beard and nose and a wise face but then again he looked nothing like Fili or Kili or even Dis which had become her new idea of what a Dwarf was supposed to look like. They all found a seat in the back of the pub, presumably bought by Balin if the nod of appreciation to the bar keeper was anything to go by.  
“My that is certainly a fine bruise you have there, Kili,” Balin said, twiddling his beard absently.   
“We ran into bandits,” He replied.  
“Ah, that’s only to be expected, then. Glad to see you were all relatively unharmed.”   
“Fill me in on what’s been going on since I left, Balin.” Dis said once they’d all settled into their seats.   
Balin sighed and didn’t make eye contact with Dis as he spoke, “There’s been another murder. Your cousin Maris was killed in her bed a week ago.”  
“But she’s not even in the royal succession!” Fili cried out and was shushed quickly by Dis.  
“That’s exactly it, we thought that perhaps someone was trying to get the throne by killing off anyone ahead of them but this development turns all that on it’s head,” Balin said, sighing and sitting further back in his seat, looking suddenly exhausted.  
Bella looked over to Kili had a pinched expression, nothing about this sounded good at all.  
“It's as though they want to get rid of the entire royal family,” She breathed suddenly, realisation dripping like ice down her spine.

Bella didn’t know what to say to any of them after their meeting with Balin, they were being hunted down like rabbits, what could she say? For all anyone knew their own guards could be their would-be assassins. So instead she focused on settling into the mountains, the rooms she and Frodo had been given were truly splendid; Kili must have had something to do with it as they were the only rooms she’d ever seen that had windows and indeed a small windowsill which none of the other rooms had, he even got her a writing desk which she was immensely grateful for-it was below a window and the light streamed in and helped her to write. It was just the right size for the both of them and Bella was forever grateful for the consideration that had been paid to them.

Frodo for his part took to his new lodgings amazingly well and spent the majority of his time with Fili and Kili down in the training yard being shown the arts of swordplay and archery. Bella almost wished she had a stereotypically Dwarven interest like that so she could fit in better but there was no point trying to force it. For all that she craved adventure she was a Hobbit through and through and it was reflected in her hobbies.

Bella spent most of her time in her rooms which truly put her smial to shame. She still couldn’t comprehend the fact that her Kili was a Prince, not that she knew what that was beyond the stories she’d read. Hobbits had no use for such things. But regardless it made her uncomfortable, how could she be expected to know how to be the sort of woman that was good enough for him? Surely he needed to marry his One and surely his one would be some Dwarven noble. She could see it now, she thought bitterly, Kili’s One would be the daughter of one of the King’s advisers and their eyes would meet across a meeting room table and they would be enthralled. She would be beautiful with dark hair and eyes that shone like some sort of sought after gem and-  
Bella smacked her hand down onto the table where her writing lay forgotten, she needed to drop that line of thought before it utterly destroyed her day. She sighed and picked up her quill again, she decided that she’d finish her poem before going and picking up Frodo for his lessons. In a bid to spend more quality time with him she upped the ante with the Sindarin lessons, switching to speaking only in Sindarin and having Frodo play catch up which he seemed oddly happy to do. Bella smiled a tiny smile to herself as she began to write, she envied his ability to enjoy not being good at things, to enjoy learning from the beginning. It was paying off as Bella had seen yesterday, he’d hit his first bullseye and had been promptly swept up into a crushing hug by first Fili and then Kili-the two Dwarves looking ready to burst with pride. He was even picking up scraps of Khuzdul which he relayed to her, only words like ‘mother’, ‘father’, ‘brother’ and ‘hello’. Basically the words Fili and Kili used in front of Frodo, they'd slip the words into Common sentences and so it was easy to infer the meaning of them. Bella often wondered why Khuzdul was kept so secret, it seemed slightly ridiculous. Anyone could learn Elvish but that didn’t take away from the majesty of mystic of the language. Perhaps they used it as a secret code? That seemed a pretty odd reason to make a whole race keep something as huge as their language secret. She sighed, some things she’d never know the answer to. 

 

Bella took one last look at her writing which she’d barely added to and grimaced, there was no way she was going to add to it for the moment. Frodo was likely to return at any moment and he’d be hungry, especially as he had begun to miss afternoon tea in favour of spending more time out in the training yard most days, he said that he didn’t want the others to have any more advantages over him that they already did, including extra time to practice. It was a whole new side to the faunt that she’d never seen before, even before his parents had died he’d never been so dedicated but it seemed that he had an iron core and love of archery and swordplay and she couldn’t deny him that, not when her love of writing had been the only thing to save her in that long winter following her parent’s deaths. Still, she found herself missing him, she was alone most of the time and before that had suited her well but things changed. 

Bella decided start preparing dinner, making sure to procure a few snacks for Frodo to tide him over while the rest of the food cooked. Erid Luin had lots of different foodstuffs, most of which she had never encountered before and had only read about and there were a few favourites of hers that she simply could not get ahold of. She made do, however, and learning to adjust her style of cooking to suit the new ingredients was a welcome challenge for her. 

It didn’t take too long for Frodo to arrive, arms full of his various training weapons which he rushed to dump unceremoniously in his room. Following behind was a grinning Kili.  
“Frodo did so well today! He’s picking up all the techniques very quickly, I’m sure whatever discipline of fighting he wants to go into he’ll do well at.”  
“Good afternoon to you too, Kili. And yes, I can see that he’s putting all of his effort into it. Luckily he has some leftover to learn Sindarin which he is also doing wonderfully at.”  
He rolled his eyes good naturedly, “I will never understand why you insist on teaching him that language. All the Elves speak Common anyway.”   
“It’s a beautiful language and not all Elves speak Common, most do I will admit but not all. And besides, if he ever meets Elves I don’t want them to have one over on him,” she replied as he handed him one of the sandwiches she made as a snack for Frodo.  
“Thanks, Bella. And ok...I can see your point somewhat, it just seems like a lot of effort to go to, that’s all.”  
“Surely it took you a lot of effort and practice to learn to shoot your bow?” He nodded, “It’s the same thing, effort is not always bad.”  
Kili laughed, “You have me bested, then. I’ll just have to let you win this one.”  
She smirked, “Wise decision, Master Dwarf.”  
Frodo poked his head round his bedroom door and spoke in Sindarin as the rule was that they were to only speak in Sindarin while in their rooms, “Aunt Bella, would it be alright if I went to Drammir’s house tomorrow for dinner? His mother agreed to the proposition,” Bella chuckled to herself at the formal words, Frodo got most of his Sindarin vocabulary from poetry, “so I just need to agree.”  
Kili looked confused and just sighed longsufferingly when Bella replied in Sindarin, “You may...as long as you’re back before sundown.”  
“But it’s so difficult to tell when sundown is here,” Frodo complained but Bella was having none of it.  
“Well then, you’ll just have to be diligent then.”  
Frodo looked like he was going to say something else but thought better of it, “Thank you for allowing me to go, Aunt Bella,” he even snuck in one of the traditional Sindarin phrases she had been teaching him yesterday, “I am grateful to thee.”  
“I accept thine gratitude with open arms.”  
“Alright,” Kili said breaking the Sindarin conversation, “I have a gift for you, Bella. I’ll just run and get it.l  
“Oh yes!” Frodo exclaimed in Common, “You’ll love it, Aunty.”  
She chuckled, she knew the Sindarin conversation was over for today but she didn’t mind. Kili bounded back into her rooms less than a minute later with arms full of pots, Bella furrowed her brow in confusion.   
“They have seeds already planted,” Kili explained, answering her unasked question, “but I wanted to keep the exact plants a surprise.”  
“How much do they need watering? How much sunlight do they need?”   
He shrugged, “No idea but you’ll be fine. You’re good at that kind of thing. Anyway, I’ve got to go as there’s a big meeting going on and Uncle Thorin is going to tell us his plan to, you know, sort this whole situation out,” he purposefully didn’t go into detail as Frodo was there, the faunt knew the basics, that there was danger and they had to be careful and that was why they had to leave the Shire but nothing really beyond that.   
“Oh, well, good luck and let me know what happens,” she replied dully.  
Kili shot her a sympathetic look, “I’ll try and get you in next time.”  
She just nodded as Kili left quickly, leaving her and Frodo to their dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve been on a bit of a writing spree as of late which I’m inordinately proud of. I hope you enjoyed this update and the next chapter will be stuff that I’ve written recently so I hope you enjoy it and perhaps even see an increase in my writing ability (I hope). Anway, thank you for reading and like always any feedback is amazing and appreciated.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bella goes to the market and puts her foot down all in one day, exciting indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the first chapter that I’ve written recently so I enjoy it!

All this secrecy was beginning to do Bella’s head in, she knew that there were various meetings of various levels of importance going on. Some of which Kili told her about, some of which he didn’t and none of the news that found her way to her was comforting in the slightest, quite the contrary. It seemed that more and more people were being attacked every day, no more deaths had happened thankfully but even so...it was troubling. Even the accounts that the victims made weren’t exactly helpful as the attackers wore masks and cloaks, clearly the people behind this weren’t being sloppy. The guards that had been vigilantly watching Bella and Frodo were added to and it seemed that even Frodo's trips to the training yard had to be carefully planned which meant that they had to be a lot less frequent which put the faunt in a sour mood that Bella couldn’t fix. The whole thing only served to make Bella feel as if the world of closing in on her and she thought of the Shire often. She had never been particularly well liked or accepted but she knew who she was there and how to act. Here, however, in Ered Luin, she didn’t have a clue. Frodo took to it like a duck to water but he had appropriate hobbies and he was a child which seemed to be something to be cherished to the point of ridiculousness here. As for her relationship with Kili, if she could have ever called it that, was fizzling away to nothing and she spent the majority of her days utterly alone.

After two solid weeks of feeling sorry for herself she finally had enough and marched down to the bustling marketplace, flanked by two guards looking for something to do. Ered Luin was a truly spectacular place, nothing like Hobbiton. The marketplace itself was carved into the mountains, half of it out in the open air and half of inside the mountain itself. As she looked down she could see the long winding roads and knew that the those roads carried merchants carts filled with exotic wares, things that she'd never even heard of. She turned back to the mountain face and craned her neck up to take it all in. The shops were carved into the rock and the different floors were stacked on top of each other, almost like a labyrinthine ant hill that stretched up so high that she couldn’t make out the top. All of that she had read about as a child, she had spent hours trying to imagine the sheer gravity of it all but what she could never have imagined was the colour. So many hues all colliding together made her eyes swim and boggle. The first time she'd been through the marketplace she'd just been passing through and was too busy trying to keep up with Fíli and Kili to really take in the beauty of the place. This time, however, was different. Each shop had its own flag with beautiful colours that swirled and bled into each other. As Bella drew closer to one of the flags she noticed that they were embroidered with something she didn’t recognise.  
“Excuse me,” she said to the owner of the store, an older woman who was busily rearranging her stock of lots of different bundles of beautifully patterned cloth, “what is that flag that embroidered with? It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before.”  
“Oh!” She said happily, “Silver thread.”  
“Thread made of silver?”  
“Aye,” the woman said proudly.  
“Wow! Really? That’s amazing, I’ve never even heard of being able to sew with metal. I sew myself so it’s very interesting to me,” Bella replied.  
“I do have some thread in stock, in fact. I don’t get many people after it so I don’t stock much but I have some. Would you be interested in buying some? I could give you a good deal on some cloth too, just to get you started.”  
Bella smiled, it hadn’t occurred to her but now that she thought about it, it seemed to be a good idea. And besides, what else did she have to spend her money on?  
“That sounds lovely. I'll take whatever you suggest,” she knew that was a good way to get swindled but this was the first time she’d truly spoken to someone other than Frodo, Kili or Fili in nearly a month and she could cry with gratitude for the woman's friendliness.   
The woman, to her benefit didn’t take Bella for a fool and rinse her of all her coin, quite the opposite in fact. She ducked down under the intricately carved stone that served as a shopfront, muttering to herself. A mourners later she popped up again with her arms full of different cloth.  
“Pick whichever takes your fancy, dear.”  
Bella felt completely spoiled for choice, the woman had picked a wide variety of colours though they weren’t patterned which was clearly so it’s would affect any embroidery she wanted to do. The cloth stood out to her however was a lovely piece of blue that was almost iridescent, as she leaned closer to get a better look she saw what she could only guess to be gold glinting in the light.  
“What that gold that I can see? How was it woven into the cloth?”  
“Metal thread, same as the stuff I’m about to sell to you. It’s simply woven in the same way regular fibre is. It’s one of the many things that us Dwarves are good at,” she said proudly.  
Bella smiled, “This material certainly is beautiful. I’ll take it.”  
“Good choice, especially given who you're staying with.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“This cloth is Durin blue, the very blue that represents their line. A good choice,” she winked and Bella blushed terribly. She didn’t know how open Kili wanted to be about them or even what they were. It did seem ever more ridiculous that a Prince would want anything to do with her in the first place.   
“Oh, well um Prince Kili has certainly been very generous in his hospitality to Frodo and me. If I could make him something for him using his family's colours...that sounds like a good idea.”  
The woman became even more amused if that was even possible, “Certainly. I’m sure he'd appreciate it.”

As Bella paid for her material and a few bobbins of silver and gold thread she couldn’t help but think about how her and Frodo were becoming minor celebrities within the city. It made sense given that the royal family had taken them in as well as the fact that they weren’t Dwarves. Regardless, if the woman’s insinuations were to be believed then her romance with Kili was well known within the Mountain. It made her feel queasy, the thought of all those people speculating on her life, it reminded her of the incessant gossip all throughout Hobbiton when Kili had been staying with her but amplified to an almost unmanageable degree. She looked at the Dwarves around her with new eyes, they gave her and her guards curious glances but now she felt as if she was being stared down. Bella grimaced and picked up her pace, her rooms were calling to her and she had a very comfortable bed to hide in.

Luckily for her Frodo was out with Kili and Fili training so she was left to cry alone. It frustrated her that she was so affected by such a relatively innocuous realisation. It wasn’t that different to her experiences at Hobbiton and it wasn’t as though anyone was even saying anything bad. It occurred to her that the public's knowledge of her connection to the royal family could potentially put her and Frodo in danger but that wasn’t what had upset her though it certainly didn’t help. Guilt began to eat away at her like acid. She didn’t even know why it had bothered her, well she thought miserably, I certainly wasn’t in the most stable of moods.

Bella watched the shadows move across the wall of her bedroom. She'd long since stopped crying but even so, she didn’t feel ready to leave the cocoon of her bed just yet. Frodo would be back soon, she knew this because now that they had guards with them constantly their lives fell into a strict routine. Sitting up in her bed, she stretched and her back clicked and she sighed and made her way to living room area. She called it a living room area as it wasn’t separate from the kitchen in any way. In fact, their rooms could be best described as being one large open space which contained the kitchen and living room and then three bedrooms off to the side. There was no hallway which meant that she could curl up in a chair with a cup of tea and keep an eye on the door which was what she did. 

She’d just come to the end of her tea when Kili opened the door and Frodo bounded in.  
“Training was so amazing today!” The faunt exclaimed, skipping over to Bella and kissing her cheek lightly, “Dwalin said my footwork has improved a lot!”  
She smiled at him, “I’m proud of you,” She looked over to Kili, “How was your day?”  
“Same as always,” he rubbed the back of his head, “We've found a new lead but I’m not sure if it's to be believed but Uncle Thorin is going to follow whatever clues we find at this point.”  
“Frodo, could you go to your room while Kili and I have a little talk?”   
The faunt looked like he was going to protest but Bella levelled him with a serious look and he just nodded and took his training sword which was now made of blunted metal instead of wood and trotted off to his room. She turned to Kili and got out of her chair and gestured for him to follow her to the kitchen.   
“Tea?” She offered.  
“Please,” he replied settling into one of the chairs at the table which Bella and Frodo ate all of their meals from, “So about the lead...”  
Bella held a hand up as she ladled out tea leaves with the other, “Let's wait until we have our tea before we talk about things like that, I find that it helps me.”  
Kili nodded, looking relieved. They didn’t speak as Bella finished making the tea though the silence wasn’t awkward which was a small mercy. She poured out the boiling water carefully, watching the colour change in the same way that she’d seen so many times before and it calmed her.   
“So,” she began as she set down their mugs, so different to the teacups that she usually drank her tea out of but the sturdiness of them suited Dwarves perfectly so she didn’t mind. She echoed Kili’s previous words, “so about this lead.”  
He grimaced and leaned back in his chair, looking at his mug instead of her, “As you know another nobleman was killed three days ago,” Bella shook her head and Kili sighed muttering about Thorin being an idiot before continuing, “but this time there was a...symbol written in his blood on the wall behind where the body was found. The symbol is nothing that we've ever seen before though it does bare a striking resemblance to Dwarven family crests, Dwarven families are more similar to a hall as well consider anyone with any blood relation to part of a hall but people usually pick only one of two to be a part of because being in a hall means you have to fight in any battles that might happen and take in any other member that needs help. Anyway, Fili thinks that it’s the symbol of some sort of faction, a group that want to be seen as the same as a family for whatever reason. Uncle Thorin thinks that if we can track down the origin of this symbol then we can find the sick bastards behind this.”  
“Well that certainly seems logical though something tells me that it won’t be nearly as simple as it sounds,” she said and Kili nodded, drumming his fingers lightly on the table, “Something also tells me that there's something that you're not telling me.”  
“I just don’t want you to worry,” he said, their eye meeting properly for the first time in a long time.  
“I love you of course I’ll worry,” She huffed before calming herself, “What I mean is that if we’re going to be in any sort of relationship then you can’t keep these things from me.”  
The Dwarf sighed and scrubbed his hand along his beard which Bella now knew to be very short compared to most Dwarves, “I received a death threat today. Well, I say that I received it, it’s more accurate to say that Uncle Thorin received it but it was about me.”  
Bella could feel the colour draining from her face as she stared blankly at him. Her heart was thumping a terrible rhythm in her chest, she had known that this would be a likely scenario but now that she was faced with it, it was more than she could handle. She raised a shaking hand her mouth before quickly putting it down and taking a long sip of her tea.  
“Well then, what’s the plan?”  
“Plan?” He asked, confused.  
“Exactly, how is Thorin going to keep you safe?” She replied before taking another much needed gulp of tea.  
Kili sighed, “That’s exactly it, no one really knows. The rest of the nobility went into hiding months ago but that doesn’t seem to be keeping them safe since the one that had been killed was in hiding. I’ve been given more guards, they're outside in fact, and people are testing my food and drink before I have it. I’ve also been forbidden to go to the training grounds which is vexing but understandable given the circumstances. My fear is that won’t be enough, and what if they go after you or Frodo? They aren’t killing people close to nobility yet but they might start, especially if they think it could rile me up or instill fear,” he said before continuing in a hushed but deadly tone, “It wouldn’t, though. If anything happened to either of you I would personally hunt them all down and gut them like fish.”  
Bella didn’t know how to feel about Kili's tone of voice but decided on cared about. She knew enough about Dwarven culture to know that what to any Hobbit would sound like savagery was in truth a show of affection and protectiveness. Dwarves coveted what was theirs, after all. Still, it did leave her at a slight loss for words.   
“Alright, then. So the plan is to increase your security?” She asked and Kili nodded in answer, “Quite frankly that’s not good enough. These people, these cretins, these...monsters will find a way to get to you and more guards is hardly going to help.   
Kili shrugged, “What do you propose, then, ‘ukrad me?” (my greatest heart)  
“I don’t quite know but I will figure it out,” a serious look fell over her face as a thought occurred to her, “I want to speak to Thorin.”  
“What? Why?” He asked, aghast, “You’re not going to yell at him are you? I’d get into trouble for that.”  
“I’ve barely been included in this and I understand for the most part why that is but at this point I’m tired of just sitting and twiddling my thumbs waiting for someone to fix all this. This is to do with me too, you know,” Bella knew this wasn’t anything like how she usually was and Kili's expression showed just how shocked he was but Hobbits protected those they loved and the thought of the man she loved in danger while she did nothing was more than she could stand.   
“Thorin is very busy...” he began but was silenced by a raised eyebrow from the Hobbit lass, “But I’m sure he’ll have time to see you briefly tomorrow!”  
“He'd better, he's going to get a piece of my mind and make no mistake about that.”  
“I wouldn’t doubt you for a second, Bella. If you can handle Lobelia you can handle Uncle Thorin,” he laughed, eyes crinkling.   
Bella joined in, “Exactly my point, he won’t know what hit him. Now...let's finish our tea and you can tell me about your day before we make sure Frodo is actually in bed and not reading, the little scamp.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, I’ve written this recently and so I hope the writing style is still enjoyable to you or has improved, even. As always and feedback is massively appreciated!
> 
> Now onto what I’ve been wanting to say for a little while...thank you so much to everyone who has commented so far! It means more to me than I can express. Writing is my first love and is what I want to do as a career one day and when I was a child it was purely because I loved reading and writing both but now it’s blossomed into so much more. Now I find that the thought that someone I don’t know can read something I did and feel something because of it is amazing, it’s a small form of immortality, after all. Anyway, this is just a long way of saying I hope that you continue to enjoy this story as well as others that I put out and I also hope that I continue to write things that people enjoy as long as I live. Thank you seems like a meagre phrase but it is nonetheless how I feel.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bella and Thorin finally meet and it goes roughly how you expected until it doesn’t. Tactics and gossip is exchanged liberally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We meet Thorin in this chapter! He's been a shadow in this story for a long time and he'll play a much bigger part in the future but for now...have a nice argument between him and Bella! Well only a tiny argument but still.

If the council of Ered Luin found something odd about an irate Hobbit marching her way into the middle of one of their meetings you wouldn’t have known it from their faces, though you would catch a slight hint from their whispers. Bella didn’t pay them any mind, however and just walked up to the head of the table where Thorin Oakenshield, King of Ered Luin and The Blue Mountains was sat staring imperiously down at her.  
“I’m terribly sorry to interrupt your very important meeting but I have been waiting here all day and this is about your nephew,” her Baggins manners reared their head at the last moment so she didn’t launch into a tirade of insults like she wanted to. How someone who claimed to be kin could sit by and no nothing while they were being threatened was beyond her.  
Thorin looked even more unhappy to see her than she was him, if that was even possible, but Bella wasn’t cowed by it. The King shifted in his chair, more of a throne really, as if he was going to leap out of it but clearly thought better of it and settled back.  
“Hobbit, you come here in the middle of my extremely important meeting, you dare to interrupt me as well as to speak to me with such a tone. What makes you think that I would listen to you?”  
“Because we both love Kili and he is in danger,” she said simply and Thorin just sighed.  
“Alright, fine. I'll finish and I’ll find you,” he replied.  
Bella sighed and walked out of the ostentatious hall and took her seat where she had spent the past four hours after being told to sit there by Balin who had looked to be busy out of his mind. 

Just as Bella was about to stomp back in there, Thorin be dammed, the surly Dwarf opened the door and gestured for her to follow him. They walked silently for a bit before they entered a side room and they each took a seat either side of a large wooden table. Bella could only assume that this room was for smaller meetings that didn’t involve the royal council.  
“Well?” Thorin asked, giving her a significant look, “I take it you wanted to talk about something other than the fact that Kili is in danger as we both know that I’m aware of this, more than you are, in fact.”  
She bristled as the condescending tone but pushed the feeling aside. She brushed her hands over her skirt nervously before speaking.  
“You're raising security for Kili which is good but ultimately how much will that help? All I mean is that security has been raised for all the nobility and what good has it done? Yes, the rate of assassinations and assassination attempts have gone down but not stopped and surely they'll try especially hard to kill the crown Princes.”  
Thorin nodded begrudgingly, “I have considered this but what else am I supposed to do?”  
“Play them at their own game,” she replied and Thorin just frowned in confusion so Bella continued, “they're threatening your kin. Find one of them and hold them random for information, the next time a noble is attacked actually track down the culprit and instead of interrogating them to no effect, ransom them.”  
The King just stared at her with wide eyes, “In all my days...I have never heard a Hobbit speak so.”  
“You've met Hobbits before?” Bella felt utterly affronted, she didn’t expect him to insult her race like that.  
“None like you,” he breathed, “I approve.”  
“Of my plan?” She was gobsmacked, she had not expected that, she'd expected to have to have a full on fight with the Dwarf King before he saw any measure of sense.  
“That too but mostly of my sister-son's choice. When he told me he had chosen you I was apprehensive as from what I’ve seen of Hobbits they wouldn’t fit into to our society but you and Frodo are different. I appreciate both of your efforts into fitting in and today you stood up for Kili when many others would not have done so, it just shows how much you care about him.”  
“I’ll choose to ignore the stuff about Hobbits. Thank you, your majesty, I’m so glad that I have changed your opinion of me. I really love your nephew with all of my heart and I would do whatever it takes to keep him safe, including stand up to you.”  
“Indeed, very brave of you. Most people are not so brave, even Dwarven warriors. I thought that you were just trying to leech off of him but I was wrong, I should not have listened to the gossip.”  
Her eyes widened, “Gossip?”  
“There was a rumour that you were using Kili for money and that Frodo was his child and you were extorting him into keeping you in the lap of luxury. A very unkind rumour.”  
“That's crazy!” She gasped.  
“Not unimaginable, however. From what I’ve heard Frodo looks a great deal like Kili and his talent for swordplay and bowmanship...it wouldn’t be surprising if Dwarven blood was the cause for that.”  
“Well...I shouldn’t be too surprised. It’s no different than the gossip that goes on in Hobbiton, it’s just so far fetched! I mean, Frodo is nearly eleven now. Kili must have gone off to Hobbiton as a tween to conceive him.”  
Thorin chuckled, a deep rumbling sound, “People make the facts fit their theories. And besides, a lot of people believed Frodo to be Kili's son but thought that was a good thing as he is so well liked by the warriors here,” Bella felt like the more Thorin spoke the more questions she had. The King seemed to sense her confusion and continued, “He is a non-Dwarven child that is taking to Dwarven styles of combat with ease and he is so enthusiastic about it that most of my men are completely taken by him. Dwalin especially, that boy can do no wrong in his eyes and I am constantly regaled by his escapades.”  
“Gosh I had no idea...I knew Frodo was training a lot but I didn’t realise that he'd made such an impact.”  
“You should be proud of him, he has the potential to be a great warrior,” Thorin said as he rose out of his chair, “I have to go but thank you for pointing me in the direction of a new strategy. I will raise it at the next meeting.”  
Bella nodded, “That’s all I want, for it to be considered.”

As they went their separate ways Bella couldn’t help but be struck by how different her life was, she’d only been in Ered Luin what? Two months? Three? Time passed oddly underground, after all. It didn’t seem like all that long ago that she sat in her smial waiting for a letter from Kili, hoping for any scrap of friendship from him and now...they were certainly more than friends though she didn’t know how exactly to define what they were. Her life had changed completely in such a short time that it dizzied her. She had Frodo now which was something she never could have imagined and even though it came out of terrible circumstances it was a source of joy in her life just as Kili was. After so many years of truly believing it was beyond her reach she had a family, or what approximated for one at least, she found the thought of having such a thing nearly overwhelming and she blinked back tears as she made her way out of the councillor’s building. 

That evening she invited Kili to have dinner with her and Frodo like she always did and this time instead of saying he was too busy to stay with a guilty expression he agreed and set about helping her in the kitchen despite her protests. It seemed some things never changed. Frodo was napping because according to Kili they had swapped his light metal training sword for one that was closer to the weight of an actual sword as a progression with his training and it had worn him out swinging it all afternoon. She grinned to herself, remembering the one and only time she'd been able to go down and watch him practice, he'd looked ridiculously cute next to all those huge Dwarven warriors staring at them intensely and trying to copy them. When she'd seen him he hadn’t been very good but if Thorin was to be believed that had changed. Bella decided to talk about it before the faunt in question woke up.  
“How has Frodo's...” she tried to think of the word Frodo has used, “training been progressing?”  
Kili's face lit up with pride, “Amazingly! That boy tries so hard and anyone with eyes can tell that he wants to learn and he really puts the effort in. He's getting a lot of results too, better even than some Dwarf children. Dwalin wants to see how he would fair using a warhammer or axe but I said to wait until he was better with the sword and bow before adding whole new techniques onto his workload.”  
“Well this is the first I’ve heard about this warhammer and axe business,” she levelled him with a semi-serious stern look, “I also assume you told them that you would have to get his guardian's permission first.”  
“Of course,” he agreed easily, seemingly unbothered, “What do you think of it? Most Dwarves have a proficiency with multiple styles of combat but favour one but if I can be totally honest for a moment,” his voice dipped into a slight whisper and Bella shivered, “I think he could easily become proficient in more than just two. Providing he likes using an axe and hammer he could be proficient in four styles and frankly that would make him a better warrior than the vast majority of people I’ve met regardless of race. I know he's your kin and your responsibility but as he has proclaimed me uncle I feel a responsibility to that and for me that means making sure he can defend himself as well as making sure he uses all of his potential.”  
Bella hummed, mulling over Kili's words, “You certainly have a good point there. He loves training, adores it really and who am I to prevent him from pursuing what he loves? I envy him for it sometimes.”  
“In what way?” He asked, furrowing his brows and looking over at her from where he was cubing a chicken breast.  
“Frodo has a hobby that makes him fit in here and I don’t have anything similar. He gets to leave and train and see people and make friends when I...I’m just stuck here. It’s not too different to being in the Shire if I’m honest but the fact that I’m in a new place just makes my loneliness more pronounced I’m afraid,” Bella explained, not stopping as she stirred the sauce she was making, not wanting to look up and see his face.  
“Oh Bella...I should have known. How could I have not seen that you would grow to see this place as merely a cage if you never left, no matter how much I tired to lavish you in luxury,” he said and Bella would have replied but something in his tone stayed her tongue, “I know that current circumstances make it difficult for you to life your life the way you'd want but I’m gonna try my best to make you happy, that’s my promise to you, banmûna me (my beautiful lady).”  
“You are just darling, my love,” Bella said, fighting a grin and blushing despite herself. When Kili used Khuzdul the sound of it made her feel very loved and protected, “I found out about sewing with metal which intrigued me, I bought some materials for it today and I’m looking forward to practicing with it while Frodo is training.”  
“Mahal, I forgot! Frodo can’t train tomorrow because there's an army training exercise going on.”  
“That is exciting, I haven’t spent a full day with him in so long. Will you be busy tomorrow?”  
“In the morning, yes,” he replied before brightening up, “But I only have one meaning in the afternoon so I will free after that.”  
“Come round when you're done, we haven’t spent enough time together. Now I think about it I haven’t seen Fili or Dis in far too long either; I miss them,” she said, feeling a tad melancholy all of a sudden.  
Kili walked over and put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed her reassuringly, “They miss you too. Fili sees Frodo at training but he asks about you to make sure you're settling in and Amad will not stop pestering me to invite you to tea.”  
She giggled, “Glad to hear the feeling is mutual! It’s easy to feel alone but I realise now that I’m not. Thank you, love.”  
He pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead and she could feel heat spread across her face.

The conversation was over after that and they got back to preparing the meal in comfortable silence. Bella found herself so excited to spend some time with Kili and Frodo, just the three of them. She had missed it bitterly and it hadn’t happened in so long apart from the occasional dinner together. Once she'd sent Kili to wake Frodo up she took a moment to shake the sad thoughts out of her head, she was prone to lingering on negativity in her life and it was a constant battle to let it go.  
“Aunty,” Frodo called out and she looked up from where she was finishing setting down the cutlery, “what are we having?”  
“Some sort of miscellaneous soup with chicken purely for the benefit of our resident Dwarf over here,” she replied, snorting.  
“I saved Frodo,” Kili cut in, eyes crinkled with mirth, “A growing boy needs his protein.”  
Frodo sniffed the air dramatically as he sat down, “Smells great! When’s it ready?”  
“Soon, I just have to ladle it out. Do you want bread with your soup, boys?”  
They both nodded enthusiastically and Bella ladled out three bowls of soup while Kili cut the bread for each of them. A good team, indeed.

“Uncle?” Frodo said and Kili hummed in acknowledgment, “When is all the army stuff finished? I know Fili said King Thorin has made him oversee it to, you know, prove he can be king someday too but Fili doesn’t seem very happy about it. I don’t mind not practicing for a bit but Uncle Fili is getting more and more sad.”  
“Being in line to the throne is not easy, even I get a lot of pressure put on me but for him...zaznâ (terrible),” Kili replied.  
Frodo nodded, “It is,” immediately his eyes widened and he clapped a hand over his mouth in mortification and Bella didn’t know whether to laugh out of nervousness or just change the subject but in the end she didn’t have time to do either.  
“Did you...?” Kili didn’t finish his sentence but he didn’t have to, the atmosphere in the room was already pulled tense and ready to snap at any moment.  
“No one taught me I just...picked stuff up from context. And I never speak Khuzdul ever! I just...when everyone in the training yard talks I really want to understand so I listen and pick it up,” he said, looking nervously to Bella. She studied Kili's face but he didn’t look angry, instead he looked...proud? He couldn’t be, though, surely?  
“I am so lucky to have such a smart nephew,” his eyes shined with tears and Bella furrowed her brows in utter bafflement, “I’m sure you have the soul of a Dwarf, I am proud of everything that you have accomplished, including this,” he said before chuckling to himself, “Though I wouldn’t exactly advertise the fact you understand any Khuzdul for obvious reasons.”  
Frodo sighed in relief, “You’re not angry? I’ve heard people talk about how Khuzdul is...dayam (blessed)...sacred, I think? Sorry, Westeron doesn’t really have the right word.”  
Kili sounded a bit choked up when he finally spoke, “No...no it really doesn’t.”  
Bella let the moment sit a while before speaking, “So...who wants their soup?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m trying to bring in the mystery-type theme slowly, mostly because I’ve never written anything like that before but also because I just love the cuteness and I don’t want it to end. 
> 
> Also I love how Bella just unintentionally ruined the boys’ emotional moment, it’s very typical of her in my head cannon to just plow through tender moments with offers of food just because she doesn’t know what else to do.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We catch a little glimpse of the Hobbit mentality and Bella doesn’t take any nonsense from anyone.

The weather didn’t tend to make much of a difference to life in the mountain, this was a lesson both Bella and Frodo learnt quickly. It was the complete lack of weather related chat that clued them to it and even Frodo who had hated it when Bella had stopped to chat about the unseasonable sun or whatnot to a neighbour back in Shire found himself missing the awareness of the sky. Hobbits were nature-loving folk and though the mountain had its own charm it wasn’t the same. All that meant that when during Frodo's Sindarin lesson they heard a deafening crack of thunder they jerked their heads up from the book they were studying to look at each other in awe.  
“Let's go,” Bella said simply and they both rushed out of their room and out of the royal wing and down towards the town where the exit to the mountain was.

It took them longer than they would have preferred to make their way out of Ered Luin but once they did it was well worth it. The sky was crackling and snarling, thunder and lightning raining down onto the parched ground below them, both of them could feel the earth rejoicing in the rain around them and the feeling which Bella hadn’t even realised she had missed made her cry and she didn’t need to look down at Frodo to know he that was also. They were soaked to the bone within moments but they just laughed and stared up at the sky in wonder, like two flowers craning up towards the life giving sky which she supposed they were. Frodo grabbed her hand and she squeezed it hard and they walked down and away from the mountain towards where the flowers grew, water dripping off of them as they went. Still not speaking. 

Bella could feel the soil growing soft and pliable beneath her feet that had trodden on solid rock for far too long. Her clothes stuck to her and she was aware that they should get inside before they both got cold, they should go back at and get a guard at the very least but she’d been doing what she should for so long. Frodo had been doing so many Dwarven things that she sometimes forgot he was a Hobbit like her, especially since Kili had been tentatively speaking to him in Khuzdul. She appreciated that, loved it, even but she found that she had a fierce need to be out here just with Frodo and nature. To be outside as the rain poured down onto them was something that Hobbits had done for generations, the feeling of nature waking up around them to receive the rain was almost intoxicating, the feeling of being on part of an infinitely bigger whole.  
“Lady Yavanna be praised,” It wasn’t Bella that had said this, however, but Frodo and she looked down at him and grinned.  
“The Green Lady shall always protect and nurture her bounty, we are her servants and shall protect and nurture her bounty also as she protects and nurtures us,” she said, completing the ritualistic words that she'd heard said so many times before at feasts and weddings and births and funerals, they were the words that accompanied a Hobbit through life.  
A snap of lightning raced across the sky and they gasped at it, not scared in the least, not even when the thunder that followed it seemed to rumble through the very earth. They were in the middle of the storm as it was passing over them, over the mountain and towards the sea. Just where they were meant to be. Bella tipped her face towards the rain and closed her eyes.

The storm stopped as soon as it started and once it had passed over them it left the two Hobbits stood there, drenched to their bones and laughing giddily.  
“I want to stay out here, Aunty.”  
“Me too, but I think there'll be a search party sent out for us soon and no one wants that. Especially as I think Kili will be done with his meeting right about now and we said we’d have dinner with him,” she replied already beginning to walk back along the path towards the mountain, pulling along a slightly reluctant Frodo by the hand. 

They walked in silence for a while and just as they were coming up to those massive gates that Bella had been so confused the first time she'd seen them Frodo broke the comfortable silence.  
“I’m sorry.”  
She frowned, “Whatever for?”  
“I know you're lonely, Aunty. I have my friends in the training yard but you don’t have anything I...know we don’t really have family back in the Shire,” he gave her a significant look and Bella was aware of just how much he'd grown in just the short months she'd been taking care of him, roughly half a year now, she realised, “I am a Hobbit and I haven’t forgotten that, I promise.”  
“I...thank you, love. That means a lot to me. I try to teach you as best as I can but I’m still young myself and I just worry sometimes that I made a mistake in coming here and then I realise how happy you are.”  
“And how happy you and Uncle are,” Frodo added.  
She blushed but conceded, “And how happy we are and I know in my heart that I wasn’t wrong in the slightest.”  
“Good. I like it here way more than the Shire. I was always odd, we were always odd but here I’m not odd. Everybody loves that I like fighting and I’m not considered violent for it,” he said obviously thinking of a specific memory.  
“Did you like fighting before you met Kili?” She asked, a little shocked.  
“Oh yes! Well not hurting people or anything like that but I like to imagine I was swinging a sword about because I felt I don’t know....graceful? Like an Elf. I used to love them when I was young.”  
Bella laughed as they reached the gate and she pulled the bell to let the sentry guarding the gate know they were there, “You’re still young, little one.”  
“I’m nearly twelve!” He blustered.  
“And yet not even halfway to adulthood.”  
Frodo just sighed indignantly in reply and focused on looking up at the gate in wonder, shifting his weight from foot to foot excitedly as it opened. Bella would never get used to the sight of the mountain seemingly opening up and ushering them in. 

 

If they got an odd looks for wandering into the mountain absolutely drenched and still grinning they didn’t notice. It was a little more difficult to ignore the fact that Balin, who looked vaguely harried, literally ran towards them with wide eyes and carrying a massive book which Bella imagined had all the tasks he needed to complete in.  
“Miss Baggins!” He yelped, “What happened to you?”  
“Oh,” she giggled self consciously as she looked down at her bedraggled state, “we just went out to experience the storm a little.”  
“Experience the storm,” he repeated weakly.  
“Yes,” she plowed on, ignoring his shocked expression, “it’s part of our culture.”  
“But you didn’t tell anyone!”  
Bella sighed, “I apologise, it slipped my mind.”  
“We were really excited!” Frodo cut in and Balin's face softened ever so slightly.  
“You know as well as I do the dangers, Miss Baggins,” he replied not unkindly, softly shaking his head.  
“You’re right, though a Hobbit will always find their way to nature regardless of the dangers,” she said ruefully.  
“Be that as it may,” Balin was about to continue when a shiver racked Frodo’s body, “we need to get you out of those wet clothes and into the warm and dry at once. You’ll catch your death of cold.”

Bella would never get used to the Dwarven way of coddling children. Hobbits took care of their faunts, yes, but never to the point of smothering them like Dwarves were want to do. She often wondered how they ever let Frodo hold a weapon when he wasn’t allowed to go outside the mountain alone. Cultural differences, she decided amusedly. At that moment, however, she found herself quite thankful for their confusing and bordering on overbearing attitude to the safety of children as it stopped Balin continuing her dressing down of her and bustled them off to their rooms hastily. 

The kettle had just whistled letting Bella know that their tea that Balin suggested they have to ‘fortify them against illness’ was ready when Kili barged in looking wild eyed and agitated, like he was going to snap at any moment.  
“There you are,” he breathed before shouting, “Where in Mahal’s name were you?”  
“Outside,” Bella said simply. She felt like she was on the back foot, Kili was clearly deeply troubled by something but she couldn’t quite figure out what it was.  
“Outside?” He laughed but both Bella and Frodo could tell he wasn’t amused in the slightest. He was still stood in the doorway and had yet to move; he simply stared at the both of them in complete disbelief. He then began to mutter to himself in Khuzdul which Bella could of course not understand but she guessed she didn’t want to given the fact that Frodo was grimacing and decidedly not looking at Kili, “You could have been killed!”  
The Dwarf’s sudden yell made Bella jump. That’s it, she decided, I’m tired of having Dwarves tell me what I should and shouldn’t do.  
“Kili,” she said coldly which shut him up immediately, “I am more than aware of the situation that faces you and yours,” she paused purposefully, letting him feel guilty at his implied condescension towards her. It worked perfectly and he had the decency to look bashful. She was a Baggins, however odd and shunned she was, and as such she could navigate social situations perfectly and as the daughter of Belladonna Baggins nee Took she could manipulate her tongue so it spit words so hurtful you would wish she was wielding a sword instead, “However no threats have been made to either Frodo or myself so I don’t see the problem with leaving the mountain unescorted.”  
Kili sighed in frustration, “Balin told me that you were soaked when he saw you and shaking like leaves in the wind with cold. Look at Frodo,” he gestured to where the faunt was sat curled up under a pile of furs watching the exchange with wide eyes, “would you risk his health?”  
“I know what a Hobbit child can or cannot take without getting ill better than you. I know you worry because you care but Frodo is fine. As am I for that matter,” she didn’t want to argue with him but this was her culture he was criticising and she would die before she let Frodo forget who he was and assimilate completely into the Dwarven culture that surrounded him. 

Kili did something that she hadn’t expected, however and began to cry. Bella immediately felt terrible for berating him, he hadn’t deserved it. Frodo got up quickly, leaving his fur behind and grabbed the Dwarf’s hand, dragging him towards the fire where the chair he always sat on was.  
“Makhalthi, irak’adad (peace, uncle) we know you worry. Children are sacred to the Khazad (Dwarves), of course, Hobbits care too but not in the same way. And this was really important to us, I promise, we didn’t go out there for no reason. You know how the thought of living without your Craft is the worst punishment for a Dwarf?” Kili nodded, “For Hobbits it’s the same with nature, we need it and when we heard the storm...it had been so long since we'd heard nature sing that we had to go. We hear the earth sing the way you hear the stone sing.”  
“You’re very good at explaining Hobbitish ways,” Bella said, feeling so proud she could burst.  
“You would make a fine ambassador one day, that is if Dwalin doesn’t swoop in and make you one of the guards,” Kili complimented, smiling. The argument was mostly forgotten about after that as Frodo preened at the praise.  
“I know I’m only 11,” he began before muttering bitterly, “nearly twelve...but I knew you were both just angry because you care, Aunty was angry because she didn’t want me to forget that I was a Hobbit, which I never would just so you know, Aunty. And Uncle Kili was just angry because he was worried and...he really takes this ‘uncle business’ really seriously if something had happened to me it would have devastated him and he loves you too so...”  
Bella actually felt herself tear up, “You are wise beyond your years, my love. I can never be thankful for the circumstances that brought you to us but I do thank Yavanna everyday that I have the privilege to raise you.”  
Frodo blushed and looked at the ground, clearly overwhelmed by the attention, “Can we have tea now? I think that the kettle is going to boil over.”

 

Bella and Kili looked at each other and snorted, finally letting their previous argument go. The tension left the roof all at once and even the stone around them seemed to sigh in relief.  
“I just remembered amad and Fili will be here soon for dinner.”  
“You invited them? I thought it would just be the three of us.”  
Kili scratched the back of his head, embarrassed, “Well amad sort of invited herself when she heard about it, she said she hadn’t seen you in too long and that I was hogging you to myself. And well...Fili didn’t want to be left out.”  
“Alright, fair enough, it’ll be wonderful to see them and we'll have some time together soon enough,” she said as she trotted quickly over the to kettle and saved it from melting onto the stove and poured out some tea to Frodo who took it and was content to go to his room, apparently he'd talked enough. Frodo often had to be alone after conversations.  
“And perhaps have some time for just the two of us,” Kili replied, following her to the kitchen and pressing a kiss to the top of her head as he wrapped his around her from behind.  
Bella leaned back into him happily, enjoying the warmth radiating off of him and closing her eyes briefly before getting back to making the tea for the three of them.  
“That is sorely needed. When’s the last time we've had a proper conversation? On the road? In Bag End?”  
“Whenever it is, it’s been far, far too long,” he grumbled.  
“Indeed,” she turned around in his arms and stood on tiptoes to press a kiss against his lips, “I have missed talking to you, just you.”  
He pressed his forehead against hers in what she knew from Frodo to be a Dwarven expression of affection and smiled, seemingly utterly content, “Soon, mizim (jewel).”  
“You’re going to have to start telling me what the stuff you say to me means, you know. Frodo tells me some of it but he doesn’t tend to hear many sweet nothings in the training yard and when I asked him to tell me what kurdu meant he shrugged and said ‘I’m not sure but I know that if you stab it the other person dies’ which isn’t very helpful,” she said still hugging him.  
Kili threw his head back and laughed before looking down at her, eyes shining with mirth, “Kurdu means heart so Frodo was technically correct. He’s a smart lad but there's only so much that can be derived from context.”  
“Well then that just shows that you have to teach the both of us,” she quipped.  
“I know when I’m bested. Khuzdul is sacred to us and I’m not sure either of you will ever be able to use the language but I can’t fault you for wanting to understand what's being said around you, especially when you live in a Dwarven settlement,” he said, looking off to the side in thought.  
“Glad we agree, then. Now...I want to actually drink my tea before it gets cold,”  
He shook his head as he giggled but let her go to grab her tea and trot over to where the chairs were, “Hobbits and their tea, I’ll never understand.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh I am only have one more chapter prewritten and I have to go to London tomorrow so I won’t really have time to write. We’ll have to see how the updates progress but I will try my hardest for you guys.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frodo has a birthday party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written very recently (i’ve only just finished it, in fact) so I hope that anyone reading can see an improvement in my writing as I certainly have.

When Fili and Dis arrived twenty minutes later Bella felt a wave of happiness, it had been weeks since she’d seen Dis and she'd only seen Fili briefly as he didn’t stop by her rooms like Kili did. Now that they were here now Bella was glad that Dis had invited herself over as it truly felt like the whole family was gathered together. That evening was one of those times where Bella wished that she could bottle memories and keep them close to her heart, it was the culmination of everything that she had wanted and had been working so hard for, for so long. 

Over the next few days she felt her mood lift, though the her actual day to day activities didn’t change very much. The only notable change is that Dis would spend her mornings in Bella and Frodo’s rooms or they would spend time in her wing and they would drink tea and gossip and see together while Frodo would lie on his stomach and read or draw, the complete opposite of what he had been spending most of his time doing. There was an unsaid sigh of relief from Bella and the fact that Frodo wasn’t allowed to go down to the training yard though she'd never tell the faunt that. He took the loss in his stride, however, and focused more on reading and his other studies. Bella also found the opportunity to utilise the metal thread that she had bought and Dis, who only had a middling ability to sew with metal, showed her what she knew and then the two of them set about figuring it out together which proved to be great fun even when Dis would grow angry and spout aggressive sounding Khuzdul that Frodo point blank refused to translate, face red and fighting a grin.

Time passed oddly in the mountain, Bella knew this, but when Frodo’s twelfth birthday arrived she found herself shocked by it nonetheless. Frodo had been nearly eleven when she'd taken him in and now he was twelve, it didn’t feel like a year had gone by but then again their time in the Shire felt so separate to their time in Ered Luin that putting them together to make a year felt nonsensical. The Durin brother’s combined efforts to make Frodo’s birthday the biggest event Ered Luin had ever seen was truly spectacular to see. They managed to convince Thorin to let them use the main hall that was normally only used to hold balls and feasts and decorated it with a mixture of their approximation of the Shire on painted wood covering the walls and there was even fake grass on the floor and tiny hillocks combined with lots of fighting memorabilia. Bella could only describe it as looking like if the Shire’s school play had been overrun by Dwarfs. Despite all of that she was terribly impressed with it, especially as they hadn’t asked her for her input at all. She wasn’t as impressed as Frodo was, however, who looked like he might cry with joy when he saw it, his body vibrating with excitement. That excitement was only compounded when what looked like every guard in Ered Luin arrived to wish him well, they were all the people Frodo practiced next to and learnt from and he had no doubt charmed his way into their hearts. 

Bella was surprised to see so many people there, she had obviously heard Frodo and Kili talk about his training and all of the people that he met there but seeing it with her own eyes was amazing. In the Shire Frodo had been an odd faunt even before his parents had died and afterward he had become older than his years, ‘strange’ if you listened to the gossip. The other children didn’t want to play with him or talk to him at all and so he had spent all of his time with her and Kili and she which had matured him even more. There was something different about him after the death of his parents which Bella could understand but it still hurt her to see the emotional damage she went through happened to him, especially when he was even younger than she had been when her parents had died. 

Frodo dragged Bella forcefully out of her reveirie by scampering off to get a better look at the hall before he saw a Dwarf who he apparently knew and he ran towards him at full pelt.  
“Dwalin! You’re here!” Frodo screamed which was the only reason that Bella could hear him as she walked over to where they were.  
The Dwarf in question, Dwalin, was absolutely massive. He towered above everyone and had a massive beard like most Dwarves did but a bald head which he was covered in tattoos. His face looked tough and he had obviously broken his nose many times, he looked like he had seen battle many times. Bella would have been slightly nervous to let Frodo near him if the faunt hadn’t seemed so happy to see him and the Dwarf in question hadn’t grinned broadly and scooped Frodo into his arms and spun him around. Just as Bella drew up to them Dwalin spoke.  
“Happy birthday, little one. Though not little so much longer I'll wager,” he laughed before putting Frodo down. He looked over to Bella, “Ah! You must be the aunt that I’m hearing so much about. I’m Dwalin, at your service.”  
“I’m Bella Baggins, a pleasure to make your aquaintance. I do believe I’ve heard you name before from Frodo, of course, but also from King Thorin. He said something about you being very proud of Frodo,” Bella said, she wanted Frodo to have a wonderful day and if that involved angling the conversation towards showering Frodo in compliments then she was more than happy to do that.  
Frodo blushed and scuffed his foot against the floor, looking the the picture of bashfulness. Dwalin just smiled and looked proud, “Indeed. Frodo works harder than almost anyone else, he's down at the training yard every day and he does whatever I tell him to which is certainly more than I can say about some of the other young ones.”  
Frodo laughed, “Are you talking about Gimli?”  
Dwalin groaned, “That utnazith (little annoying one), yes I am thinking of him. I know the two of you are inseparable but I wish some of your work ethic would rub off on him.”  
“I only work hard at training because I love it, just ask Bella about my Sindarin lessons. She has to force me,” he chuckled and Bella just nodded sagely when Dwalin looked at her for confirmation, “Besides, Gimli works hard with axe training, he just doesn’t like using a sword.”  
He sighed, “He just needs to realise that training isn’t about having fun.”  
“It isn’t?” Frodo snarked and Dwalin snorted.  
“Oh hush, nudnel (boy of all boys) and go find Gimli, I think I saw his fiery head somewhere.”  
“Really? Where?” Frodo asked excitedly and Dwalin just pointed towards the table of food and Frodo trotted off quickly. 

Bella and Dwalin stood in silence for a moment before Dwalin turned to her with a serious expression.  
“I just wanted to congratulate you on doing such a good job with Frodo, he talks about you all of the time and you seem wonderful. I know a bit of his parent’s deaths and seems to be working through it...ah Mahal I’m not good at this. I just wanted to say that I’m glad that he's here in the mountain.”  
“Oh, well, thank you, Master Dwalin. It was very sudden as I’m sure you know but I don’t regret taking Frodo in for a moment, he’s changed my life for the better,” she said, feeling oddly emotional but Dwalin didn’t comment on the tears in her eyes.  
“I can see why, he’s a good child.” 

Any other conversation was interrupted by loud throat clearing and the smashing of a cooking pot with a ornately carved wooden spoon which were both decorations that were liberally dotted around the room, presumably because they were stereotypically Hobbitish in nature.  
“Attention everyone! It is my pleasure as heir to the throne of Ered Luin to declare this party which is aid of celebrating the birth of one very special Hobbit, Frodo Baggins, has officially begun!” Fili declared, sounding for all the world like a King making an official address to his country.  
Bella couldn’t hide her snort but it was drowned out by the cheers of the other Dwarves. Where was Kili? The two brothers were rarely seen apart. Just as Bella was scanning the room to look for him she felt arms close round her and she squeaked, the sound of Kili’s laugh soon calmed her.  
“I feel immensely proud of myself for having snuck up on you, sanûrzud (perfect sun). It’s usually you sneaking up on me,” he said, pressing a kiss to her temple, “Hello Dwalin, enjoying yourself?”  
“As much as can be expected of a children’s party,” Dwalin replied in a way that sounded grumpy but that Bella suspected was just in fact his de facto way of speaking.  
“Oi!” Kili mock complained, giving Bella one last squeeze before pulling away to punch Dwalin in the arm who didn’t react at all, “Me and Fili worked very hard on this.”  
“Too hard,” Dwalin retorted chuckling.  
“Oh go find your brother, I saw him around here somewhere. I’m stealing Bella,” he said, reaching for her hand which she took. She still found it odd to watch two Dwarves speaking as they were oftentimes so loud that she found herself just watching in awe and bafflement.  
“I know when I’m not wanted, and besides, I heard from Bombur that he'd made some of his famous brazed pork and I’m getting some before Gloin steals it,” he replied before walking away at a brisk pace.  
Bella’s stomach rumbled at the mention of food and she blushed a little at Kili’s thoroughly amused look, “I’m a Hobbit. And anyway...Bombur? Gloin? Who are they? I feel like if I’m going to be meeting these people I should know at least something about them.”  
“True enough. There's lots of people that you need to meet, crazy that you’ve been here so long without running into them, actually. Of course you know the main Durin line, me, Fili, Amad and Uncle Thorin. But there’s the extended line with is Dwalin who you've met and Balin, they’re cousins. There are more in their line but you aren’t likely to meet them. Then there’s the Ur clan with Bombur, Bofur and Bifur who are all tradesmen, suffice it for now to say that Bombur is a chef for the royal kitchens, Bofur is a miner and Bifur runs a very successful toy store.”  
“Oh! Is that where Frodo got that amazing wind up soldier?” She remembered the day Frodo got it, he hadn’t put it down for half an hour and even Bella had no idea how it worked as she had never seen anything of the like in the Shire.  
“The very same,” Kili nodded, “Then there’s the Ri clan which has an...interesting history that I won’t go into now. Anyway, there's Dori who owns a tea shop, Ori who is an apprentice scribe and Nori who...well I’m not sure what he does to be honest and I’m not sure I want to know. And then there's the Oin clan with Gloin who you’re going to meet today, he's a guard, and Oin who’s head healer.”  
Bella’s head was spinning, “This is quite possibly worse than a Hobbit family reunion.”  
“Really?” Kili snickered.  
“Actually no, I take it back. I was there for the marriage of Petunia Proudfoot-Bracegirdle to Bantherimus Baggins-Chubb. The Proudfoot-Bracegirdle-Baggins-Chubb wedding had near enough every Hobbit in Hobbiton there as well as half of Bree,” she cringed at the memory of that awful occasion, she grandmother had tried to get her engaged. Twice! “About six hundred, all in all, you can imagine the introductions.”  
Kili fanned himself with his hand melodramatically, “I will never get used to the sheer enormity of Hobbit families. I imagine family feuds to be like literal wars where the different families have their own armies, I mean, surely one of your families would be big enough?”  
“Well the Baggins family for instance, if you could all the outlying Sackville-Bagginses, Chubb-Bagginses, Proudfoot-Bagginses and Bracegirdle-Bagginses...hmmm...roughly two hundred all in all, more now since we’ve been gone so long. I’m sure there are at least six babes by now.”  
Kili looked slightly pale, “Hobbits are like rabbits, honestly, must be because you live in holes.”  
She wacked him on the arm, “Rude! And no we just...” she blushed, “our culture makes it so that having children is a priority. That and we were blessed by Yavanna to be incredibly fertile. There are stories of Hobbit lasses getting pregnant from just kissing their intended,” at Kili’s horrified look she clarified hurriedly, “Just stories I assure you! No need to worry.”  
“Oh Thank Mahal! Not that I wouldn’t...you know...want children, of course I would just...marriage first,” he stuttered.  
“Really? You’d want to get married? To me?” She gasped.  
“Um...would you?”  
“Not right now,” she said, looking at the ground.  
“I wasn’t proposing!” He yelled and blushed so deeply Bella could see it through his beard when people turned to look.  
Bella smiled comfortingly and placed a hand on his arm, “I know, my love. Let’s have this conversation later.”  
He sighed in relief, “Thank you. Anyway, Fili wanted to talk to you.”  
“Oh really? Let’s go, then.”

Kili pulled her along to meet his brother and Bella followed good naturedly, enjoying the infectious enthusiasm Kili had. The party was really starting to liven up as the throng of Dwarves were singing a Khuzdul song she could only assume was in Frodo’s honour. Frodo had apparently found Gimli who was a Dwarven child with bright red hair and a purposeful set to his face but they seemed to get on wonderfully which made Bella smile to herself, she hadn’t seen Frodo with anyone even remotely his age in months, though Gimli couldn’t possibly be his age. In fact if she knew anything about Dwarven aging the child must be at least fifty. She was pulled out of her thoughts of Dwarves and Hobbits and ages by Fili who pulled her into a hug and smacked his forehead to hers which luckily didn’t hurt like she had expected it to.  
“Hello, Bella!” He pulled back to have a look at her, hands still on her upper arms, “Look at you, dressed all fancy.”  
She snorted and looked down at herself. She and Dis had spent at least a week embroidering one of her older dresses using the metal thread she had bought with a mixture of flowery patterns to represent the Shire and geometric shapes that she had seen on the clothes people wore in Ered Luin.  
“Why thank you, Fili. Dis and I worked hard on it, not too bad for our first effort into the craft, don’t you think?”  
Fili grinned, tilting his head in mock appraisal, “Not bad at all...especially this symbol here. What made you include it?”  
Bella crunched her brows together at the blond Dwarf’s mischievous expression, “I didn’t, it was Dis.”  
“Well that explains it, then,” he laughed, “Very fitting, though.”  
“In what way?”  
“It the symbol of the Durin clan...” Fili said significantly, wiggling his eyebrows at Kili who just looked embarrassed.  
“Of course Amad would do that,” Kili huffed, “She probably wants us to be married already. Also Fili, get off Bella-find your own Hobbit.”  
For all that Kili sounded like he was joking to Bella the way that Fili immediately let her go and stepped back made her think that there was something more to it. A Dwarven thing, perhaps, they were known to be jealous though that in itself was slightly prejudiced to think in the first place.  
“Well, you know that Amad has been pressuring me to get married because I’m the oldest, the only thing even vaguely keeping her at bay is that I haven’t found my One,” he sighed, rolling his eyes. Bella could certainly relate to that pressure so she sighed as well in sympathy.  
“You’ll find your One eventually, nadad,” Kili said kindly.  
“You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?” He snorted.  
“What?” “Fili can we not?” Bella and Kili said at the same and Fili just laughed.  
The blond put his hands up in surrender, “Alright, alright. I’m just saying...”  
“Fili...” he warned and Fili just skipped away giggling, leaving them alone.  
Bella turned to him and looked up at him in confusion, “What was that?”  
“Ehh...let’s talk about that later, now isn’t the time. Especially since I think Frodo is going to want to start opening his presents now.”

 

The two of them walked over to where Frodo was sat in front of a truly massive pile of presents. Bella still couldn’t believe that people actually received gifts on their birthday instead of giving them, surely the point of a birthday is to thank the people around you who made you so happy during the previous year? Cultural differences, she mentally shrugged. Frodo, for his part, seemed to completely overwhelmed by the gift which were all ornately wrapped and were of such varying sizes and shapes that Bella couldn’t even begin to guess what the gifts could possibly be. 

A small crowd of Dwarves had gathered around into a semicircle behind Frodo and were staring down at him expectantly. Dwalin was the first to point out a gift, presumably his, and offering it to Frodo from the pile-more of a small hill, really. Bella wasn’t close enough to hear the exchange of words but clearly whatever had been said by Dwalin was emotional as Frodo blinked back tears and grinned so widely that it seemed to split his face in half. The faunt tore open the intricately patterned wrapping paper and Bella could see him gasp, he lifted up something made out of what Bella could only guess to be steel.  
“What is that?” She asked Kili.  
“They’re vambraces, they go over the forearms to protect them,” he explained, “I think that a lot of the men got together for this. I wasn’t involved but that often happens. Usually armour is either forged by the parents or handed down from generation to generation but if a child has no family or is too poor then their fellow men come together to give them armour. Since Frodo won’t have armour to inherit I think this is what is happening.”  
“Wow…” she breathed, feeling emotional, “That is quite possibly the most generous thing I’ve ever heard. Those must have been expensive.”  
“I would guess so, though he might have already had the steel.”  
“You mean he made it himself?” Bella asked, shocked.  
“Of course,” Kili said, sounding a little affronted, “What Dwarf would give a birthday gift that they didn’t make themselves?”  
She shrugged, “Well Hobbits celebrate our birthdays the other way round so I wouldn’t know.”  
“Now it’s my turn to be confused…”  
“When it’s our birthday we give gifts to our friends instead of the way you do it. It’s about showing appreciation to everything that our friends have done that year,” she said.  
“I suppose that makes sense but I’m glad we don’t do it that way,” Kili laughed.  
Bella snorted, “Well...if you think about it our way means you get presents more often.”

Kili was about to respond but they were both distracted by the next gift which was from another Dwarf who looked uncannily like Gimli (‘that’s Glóin’ Kili murmured’). The box was vaguely oblong in shape and Frodo struggled a little hold it as he unwrapped it eagerly. Even from their distance they could hear Frodo’s cry of delight when he took out the gift from the box, it was a truly spectacular looking axe which was almost comically huge in Frodo’s arms.  
“I told Gloin I was going to wait to train Frodo with an axe,” Kili complained, “Very nice quality though...oooh that’s the rune for strength on the handle, and dexterity! Very classy.”  
“Does Frodo even want to use an axe?” Bella asked, sincerely hoping he didn’t. She would have a Dwarf for a nephew before she knew it.  
“Well just look at him,” Kili snorted. 

Indeed Frodo looked absolutely thrilled with his gift and was trying to hold it in one hand and failing, Gloin laughed a booming laugh and showed him how to hold it properly with two hands. From the happy sparkle in the faunt’s eyes Bella knew that she’d have yet another weapon to clean and sharpen in evening, it was one of the many hypocrisies of Bella’s parenting style that she let Frodo train with weapons but not clean or sharpen them. It made her feel slightly less guilty about the whole thing.

By the time Frodo had gotten to the end of all of his gifts Bella knew she’d have to help Frodo get everything into his room, in fact she might even have to buy an extra cupboard just for his armour. And an armour cupboard is a truly ridiculous thing for a Hobbit to have. Still, the look on his face as he was surrounded by the people who had taken him in and accepted him, who trained him and trained with him, it made the cultural change worth it. The nights she’d stayed up with Frodo while they talked of their parents, of how they thought of them every day and would miss them forever. Bella told him of how Hobbits don’t go to the shores of Valinor like Elves but to Yavanna’s garden, a place like the Shire where you could have your smial and tend to your garden in peace for all of time and that both of their parents were watching down on them. ‘Probably having a good laugh at our expense, too’ Frodo had sniggered and Bella had joined in, ‘two Hobbits in Ered Luin. How strange!’

In the end Kili had to borrow a wheelbarrow from Eru knows where to carry the gifts home in, they must have looked a ridiculous sight-two Hobbits, a Dwarven Prince and their guards all walking along the winding path that took them from the hall to the royal wing where their rooms were. The spectacle wasn’t helped when Kili picked Frodo up by the armpits and placed him on top of the pile, Frodo looked like a miniature King and the three of them laughed the whole way back to their rooms. 

Once Kili had drunk his obligatory cup of tea with Bella and Frodo and bid his goodnight the two Hobbits were left to themselves for the first time in nearly the whole day.  
“Do you think we’ll stay here, Aunty?” Frodo asked imploringly.  
“You are a one for asking complicated questions out of the blue! But yes, I should hope so, it depends on Kili, really. If we marry then I suppose we would stay but if not then we would have to go back once all this danger is over.”  
“Then you must get married!”  
Bella tutted, “That is not for you to decide, dear heart. And besides, worst case scenario you can always come back when you’re an adult.”  
“But that’s forever away.”  
“Didn’t I hear you say that you were nearly an adult not too long ago?”  
“No,” Frodo harrumphed, “I said I wasn’t young. Not the same thing.”  
Bella giggled, mostly to herself as she knew that mirth would only spur him on, “Drink up! We’ve got to get you to bed. I distinctly remember hearing from Master Dwalin that training is starting again tomorrow and you wouldn’t want to be tired for that.”  
Frodo downed his tea which thankfully had cooled and rushed off to his room, Bella looking on and shaking her head in amusement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! This chapter is a lot longer than the others which is my little treat to you but also the updates will slow down considerably so bare with me and I hope you will continue to enjoy my story.
> 
> Also since I’m rereading the Hobbit for the nth time I’ve noticed how Thorin is so different to how he is in the movies and I prefer the book version so I’ve decided to write my Thorin closer to the book version. It works out with what I’ve already written as I find movie!Thorin to be much more argumentative whereas the book version isn’t and neither is mine. Besides, I think a Thorin That has already been King for many decades would have mellowed out his temper just a smidge.
> 
> Side note: how do people make friends on this sight? Or do they not? I’ve been on here ages and still have no clue lol


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dis and Bella have a chat.

Sunlight streamed through the one window in Bella’s rooms as she pottered about, waiting for Dis to arrive. She’d already made second breakfast though Dis liked to call it ‘an unholy large snack’ which today consisted of the special bread that was popular in Ered Luin that didn’t have seeds like bread did in the shire which certainly took a lot of getting used to on her part, a dozen hard boiled eggs, some scones that she had baked the previous day and lots of apple juice that she had bought down at the market for a price that make her eyes water and she was all too aware of how Ered Luin imported the vast majority of their foot save some meat products. Thoroughly strange; it went beyond not having a love of nature and right into financially unsound. Though, now she thought about it, what Dwarf would be seen dead tilling a field or weeding a vegetable patch? There also wasn’t a great deal of land to grow food on and what land there was, was so far away that it would be difficult to protect. She sighed, she hated it when her gut reaction about things was wrong. It occurred to her then that she hadn’t watered her plants that Kili had given her. She had been caring for them religiously, experimenting with the amount of water that they needed carefully so as not to harm them in any way and now she had figured them out she was just waiting for them to grow. It would be a surprise to see what they were, they were obviously flowers, she could tell that just from the shoots but she purposely didn’t spend too much time looking at them to try and figure out what they were as that would ruin it. Still, their little spot of the windowsill was her favourite place in her rooms, possibly all of Ered Luin. The plant pots themselves were also very ornate, the cray was shaped into a mostly oval shape but with ridges and bumps that made it a lot more interesting to look at. Nothing like she'd ever seen before and yet again she wondered where Kili got the plants from. 

Unlike Kili Dis actually knocked before entering Bella’s rooms so she had time to rush over to the door and great her and it also stopped Dis from finding her staring contemplatively at her plant pots.   
“So I hear the birthday party for Frodo was a success...” Dis began, taking a sip of her tea, “Terribly sorry I couldn’t go, Thorin needed someone with an ounce of sense to help him during a meeting. Speaking of, I have news.”  
“New?” Bella echoed.  
“Indeed,” she nodded sagely, “News of great portent...”  
“Dis, please stop trying to set the scene for me and actually tell me,” Bella said, despairing. The line of Durin would do her in, in the end, she just knew it. Or turn her hair white before her time at the very least.   
Dis sighed, “Aye, ruin all the fun, then. Alright, so we managed to track down a member of this group, ‘uhrakh burtel’thuhr which basically means group that needs the greatest change which is obviously about overthrowing the monarchy. So we've got a name as well as a symbol though the person we caught was a lackey, we couldn’t get much out of her.”  
Bella grimaced, “Marginally helpful. What was the ‘great portent’ you were talking about?”  
“To sum up a very long story the woman that we interrogated gave up all the information she knew, we assume anyway. The information leads us to believe that there is corruption within the council which is horrific to contemplate but it does explain how even when nobles go into hiding it doesn’t keep them safe. As far as we know the guards are unaffected but in times such as these who can be trusted?”  
Bella nodded unhappily, “You’re right, but what do we do?” She sighed, casting her eyes about the room as if to find some sort of divine inspiration, “Fight them, I suppose,” she said, shrugging.  
“If only it were that easy,” Dis lamented, downing her tea and slamming it down onto the table and Bella was thankful that they were drinking out of mugs in that moment.   
“I know I’m not exactly an expert but why can’t you just fight them? Track them down?”  
“Once we find them we will fight them, rest assured,” Dis said, not sounding assured in the slightest herself, “Once we drive them out of whatever festering, rotting hovel they’ve set up their residence in.”  
Bella sighed, “I wish I could be of help with that but I’m just me. I just hate watching everything happen to me, happen to Frodo, happen to Kili and Fili and all of you without being able to do a thing about it.”  
“I feel the same. Thorin is trying his hardest and it is very difficult, especially since the whole thing needs to be kept under wraps. We don’t want some sort of coup happening. There are rumours, of course, but given that the whole goal for the ‘uhrakh burtel’thuhr is to spread fear I think we’re doing pretty well.”  
“I’m still scared, Dis,” Bella replied, slumping her shoulders.  
“Well of course you’re scared. I’d be furious at you if you weren’t.”  
“Still,” she said, feeling grim, “I’m sure you can understand that I don’t feel particularly useful.”  
“Neither do I. This whole...espionage thing that’s going on at the moment is beyond me, beyond Thorin even. I’m sure you know that Dwarves tend to solve our problems in a more...direct way,” Dis said and Bella nodded, snorting despite herself, “This group isn’t acting predictably. We know what their goal is, they want to monarchy out but apart from some death threats they’ve not gone after Thorin or me or my sons. The royal succession line goes Thorin, myself, Fili, Kili and then it would most likely go to Dáin if no one else had any more children. There's not really much point in killing off random nobility.”  
“How do you know they want to overthrow the monarchy? I mean, maybe they just hate nobility.”  
Dis leaned back and seemed to consider it for a moment, “Their name is a big hint, but also we got it out of the woman we captured. Still, it’s not as though they’re killing the nobility in any sort of order. There seems to be no connection between them at all, in fact, other than their class.”  
“Bother....” Bella bit out, mind racing, “I know this is a weird question but what does their crest look like? Kili said it looked similar to family crests but wasn’t quite like it. Something like that.”  
“It’s got a dragon on it which certainly makes it different to any family crest, our crests show something about what the family is known for but that....is ridiculous,” Dis said, sounding bitter which Bella supposed she had every right to be.   
“A dragon!” Bella cried out, slamming her hands on the table with excitement.  
“Yes?” Dis tilted her head in confusion, one hand coming up to tug at a bead in her beard.  
“Exactly! A dragon!” Bella hadn’t been so proud of herself in a long time, “Dragons are known for their love of gold. Well...maybe they want to make the royal family afraid of them and then they’ll send a letter saying ‘if you give us a lot of gold we’ll leave you alone’, what better way to get gold would there be? If they were to threaten a single member of the royal family you could protect that member but if they vaguely threaten all of them then what can you do? Especially if you suspect the council to be in on the plot.”  
Dis whistled, low and long, in awe, “You should be on the council, Bella, you really should. Kili got a better woman than he deserved.”  
Bella laughed, “That’s not really true. It’s just that Hobbits are so polite that our feuds are conducted in secret so I’m very aware of the logic that powered those types of things.”   
“I can’t imagine Hobbits going around killing each other, though.”  
“You’d be surprised,” Bella hummed, “There have been quite a few ‘illnesses’ that everyone knows was poisoning but no one is going to bring it up,” she raised an eyebrow, “that would only spoil the peace.”  
“Mahal...Hobbits are scary.”  
She laughed, “That's out most closely guarded secret.”  
“Still, I wish Thorin would see sense and let you into those meetings,” Dis groused.  
Bella shrugged, “I understand why he can’t. I’m not part of the council or in the royal family.”  
“You could be,” she said, giving her a significant look, “If Kili finally saw sense and married you.  
“Dis! We've not been courting very long, only a few months.”   
“According to Dwarven traditions you’ve been courting a great deal longer than that, especially if my son’s letters are true. He was sending you lots of things that he made himself with the intention to care for you and impress you, he gave you a bead, even.”  
“You know about that!” She cried out, blushing.  
“I have eyes. I recognised that bead and even if I didn’t it literally has his name on it,” the older woman snorted wryly, “You’ve known each other nearly two years. If anything you’re taking it too slowly, at least too slowly for my taste. I just want my boys happy.”  
Bella grimaced, a sudden sadness welling up inside of her, “What if he finds his One?”  
“Oh Bella...you need to have a conversation with Kili about this.”  
“I don’t want to pressure him,” she whined.  
“Oh hush! Just talk to him for me, would you? You’re serious about him, aren’t you?” Dis questioned.  
Bella huffed, “Of course! I came here, didn’t I? I took Frodo too which means even more. Hobbits don’t leave home ever. It was love that took me here, Dis. I knew that most likely we would be safe, I did fear for mine and Frodo’s safety but I could have easily asked the Thain to take care of us,” she sighed, resting her head on her hand forlornly, “I love him, he's the only one for me but because I love him I want him to be happy. I want him to be happy more than I want him to be with me.”  
“Mahal save me from the ignorance of youth!” Dis complained, raising both her hands and eyes skywards, “It’s not my place to talk about my son’s feelings but I will say this: he loves you a lot. He took on the role of uncle to Frodo which in our culture is incredibly important and given you’re raising him and he's helping you, you’re married in a lot of ways already. If he didn’t care he wouldn’t have committed to you like that,” she sighed, “Just talk to him about your concerns. Promise me.”  
“I promise,” Bella couldn’t look Dis in the eye, the whole thing just felt too mortifying for words, “I know he loves me but I don’t want to keep him from someone that could potentially make him even more happy than I ever could.”  
Dis smiled sadly, “I understand that but I wouldn’t worry about it too much. If he wants to be with you that’s his choice, don’t try and make that decision for him, it’ll only cause the both you grief.”   
The Hobbit nodded, “You’re right, I’ve just never been in this sort of situation. I’ve courted before but this is more than that.”  
She laughed, “I should hope so!”

The rest of Dis’ visit went without incident as embarrassing conversation topics were dropped. They drank their tea and started with their new project with the metal thread. The dress for Frodo’s birthday party had been something to hone their skills but now Bella wanted to do something that better reflected her own culture. But while she was thinking about the dress...  
“Dis, why did you put the Durin symbol on my dress?” She asked, not really wanting to know the answer as she had a good idea of what the headstrong Dwarrowdam would say anyway.   
She laughed heartily, clearly remembering some sort of joke, “Oh did someone tell you? Ah well, doesn’t ruin it for me. I just wanted my Kili to have a bit of a shock. They get their prankster ways off of me, believe it or not,” she winked.  
Bella raised her eyebrows, “I’ll just have to believe it, won’t I? I do remember that he did find the whole thing a little embarrassing come to think of it. What was that about anyway?”  
“Obviously us Dwarves like to show the world what we consider to be ours, right? You must know this by now,” Bella nodded, snorting and Dis continued, “Same applies to people. We have braids to show which family we belong to and who we're courting which you and Kili have already done,” she gave Bella’s bead attached to a braid behind her left ear a smug look, “Well the same thing goes for family crests. It’s nothing too serious, it just shows you have an affiliation with the family and given that Kili is courting you it probably made him...think of other things, let’s say.”  
“Like marriage?” Bella asked, not looking up from her cross stitch, “You really are transparent, you know.”  
Dis guffawed, “I never said that I wasn’t.”  
“Eru I really am going to have to talk to Kili, aren’t I?”  
“I would advise it, yes,” she snorted, “As it is you two are wondering about like a pair of oblivious Dwarflings. Frodo is fair more observant than you.”  
“Wow...very kind. But yes,” she laughed, “I have to concede your point. I take pride in Frodo being a better Hobbit than I will ever be.”  
“That is the joy of parenthood, watching you children do things you never thought possible for them even in your wildest fever dreams. I remember when my boys were babes and I couldn’t really even imagine them walking let alone fighting or having their own friends or relationships or children.”   
A thought occurred to Bella, one she'd thought of subconsciously but had never really lingered on it, “Do you see Frodo as Kili’s son?”  
Dis hummed and the sound comforted Bella in an odd way, Dis often hummed lightly before speaking and it made her think that things weren’t really so bad after all.  
“I do, in a way. But then again it’s not as though you consider Frodo to be your own son or visa versa. But I know you and Kili parent him together which is more than enough for me,” she paused, seemingly weighing up whether to tell Bella what she was about to say next, “I think it’s been good for him. He was very lonely before, he had his family but there wasn’t that emotional fulfillment and now...he's a changed man. I would never have guessed that helping to raise a child would be good for him but here we are.”  
Bella giggled, “I never thought it would be good for me either and it’s been a challenge but we’ll worth it.”  
“Of course it is. Now I’ll get going and when my son inevitably arrives to see you instead of his own mother you will have the long overdue conversation with him.”  
Bella was tempted to reply with a sarcastic ‘yes, your highness’ but considering that she was a princess of Ered Luin it was the truth which took the bite out of it. 

Now that Dis had swept out of the room, leaving her unfinished sewing behind, even. Bella couldn’t help but feel a nervous. She knew that there wasn’t much to fear except embarrassment. Well that wasn’t quite true, there was the ever present fear of rejection too but she kept that to a dark corner of her mind she didn’t dare to visit

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Any constructive feedback would be lovely as I don’t have a beta reader. I really hope you enjoyed and of course, any kudoses or comments or the like would be massively appreciated.


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